APEC says wait
Macau will remain in the long queue of candidates seeking to join the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. How long? At least three years, according to a recent APEC meeting in Sydney. Why wait? No reason was given by Australian Prime Minister John Minister, who announced the wait time at the meeting. Other candidate nations who must also wait until 2010 (when the issue will be revisited) include Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Laos, India, Myanmar, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama and Sri Lanka.

Moody’s gives ICBC stable rating
China’s largest state-owned commercial bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has recently been given a “stable” status by Moody’s. The better bill of health from Moody’s comes in the wake of ICBC’s announcement to purchase Macau based Seng Heng Bank for US$ 583 million. Moreover, their after-tax profits from January through July of 2007 hit RMB 41.2 billion, a 62 percent year-on-year rise. Certain analysts have forecasted that ICBC will reap RMB 39 billion in net profits before the next interim report is released.

Macau to bridge Fujian and EU biz
Cashing in on its long links with Europe, Macau is helping broker a business and cooperation exchange between the European Union and Fujian province. The investment meetings will take place from October 18-21 at the 12th Macau International Fair. Chief Executive Edmund Ho has said the move should “stimulate trilateral investment cooperation”. It will also connect Fujian based businesses with other Luso-phone countries via Macau. Both Macau and Fujian belong to the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) plan or “9+2″ programme that is designed to bolster regional cooperation in Southern China.

Mainland exports up 23 percent
Export goods from the Chinese mainland to Macau saw a 23 percent year-on-year during the first seven months 2007 for a total of US$ 1.47 billion, according to reports. Conversely, mainland imports from Macau were down 7.4 percent or US$ 150 million for the same period. During this same stretch of time, companies with Macau capital invested US$ 4 million to China, 15.9 percent year-on-year rise, with Macau projects on the mainland growing 16 percent for a total of 514 projects.

Q2 Manpower Needs and Wages Survey
The Macau Statistics and Census Service’s results for the Q2 2007 Manpower Needs and Wages Survey says that a total of 21,841 paid employees were working in wholesale and retail trade, up by 9.6 percent over the same period of 2006, with 11,996 working in retail. The average earnings (excluding bonuses and allowances) for full-time employees in June 2007 was MOP 7,700, a year-on-year increase of 13.3 percent. The survey also noted that sales representatives and salespersons earned an average of MOP 9,489 and MOP 6,244, respectively. Transport, storage & communications took on 7,388 paid employees, which rose by 9.3 percent compared with the second quarter of 2006, the report said. The majority of the vacant posts in these industries required junior secondary or lower in educational training, while 85.8 percent of the vacancies in security activities required primary education only. Apart from mastering Cantonese, 48.3 percent of the jobs in the wholesale and retail sector required fluency in Mandarin as well.

Cable & Wireless raise CTM stake
Macau’s elecommunications company, Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau (CTM) is attracting further investment from Cable & Wireless. Currently, Cable & Wireless has a 51 percent stake in CTM, and increasing this stake would mean acquiring the 28 percent owned by Portugal Telecom, the 20 percent owned by CITIC Pacific Ltd or the remaining one percent in the hands of the MSAR government. Cable A source form Portugal Telecom told Portuguese news agency Lusa that the Portuguese company was not interested in selling a stake it considers to be strategic in CTM.

China-Africa Business Council to be created
The China-Africa Business Council during the 12th Macau International Fair (MIF), said Lee Peng Ho, chairman of the Macau Institute for Trade and promotion of Investment (IPIM). The MIF will be held between October 18 and 21 at special cooperation forum that will be held in area of 100,000 square metres that will house 900 pavillions and 148 sales delegations from 47 countries and regions and 24 Macau trade associations.

Macau’s bird flu ban
In order to prevent avian flu, Macau recently imposed a partial ban on poultry imports from Panyu, jus south of Guangzhou. The ban lasted for 21 days and did not hamper Macau’s poultry market. The preventive measure was set in motion because of a recent deadly outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which killed thousands of ducks in Panyu.

Ao Man Long’s family ties
According to Macau’s Examining Magistracy (JIC), former transport and public works secretary Ao Man Long won’t be alone charges of corruption and money laundering. Members from his immediate family will also face trial on charges that may put them in the slammer for a long time too. His wife, Cheng Meng Ieng, his brother, Ao Man Fu, his father, Ao Veng Kong, and his sister-in-law, Ao Chan Wa Choi are four of the so-called “Ao Man Long” seven are facing charges, according to the Magistracy’s public memo. Of course, only three appeared before a court last month – Cheng Meng Ieng and her two daughters fled Macau last year. Ao Man Long’s brother and sister-in-law have been in custody since the case cracked open last December. Their trial is expected to begin November.

Melco-PBL cutback US$ 1 billion
Melco-PBL, listed in the United States as MPEL, has agreed to cut US$ 1 billion in proposed fundraising for their US$ 3 billion City of Dreams project. They were forced to cut back their fundraising efforts from US$ 2.75 billion to US$ 1 billion owing to the US sub-prime credit crunch that hit earlier this summer.

Citigroup critical of Venetian
Citigroup reports that the Venetian still has key software issues that need resolving. The report, issued shortly after the August 28 opening, said that, ” It was apparent the staff are not ready in terms of training”. It also noted that, “The check-in/out process can take hours; this is not aided by staff that are unsure how the system works”. Perhaps most condemning, they wrote, “Lying by the pool at the Venetian, you will enjoy the view of the construction of the Cotai Strip…Dust plumes, jackhammers and piledrivers enhance the resort experience”.

Stanley Ho saves rare treasure
Anyone who has visited the Lisboa casino knows that Stanley Ho is a man who cares for fine art. Recently, Ho paid US$ 10.34 million for a Qing Dynasty bronze horse head that was stolen by from China’s Imperial Palace by French troops. The head was supposed to be auctioned off in October by its Taiwanese owner, but Mr Ho pre-empted the sale with his offer, according to Sotheby’s. “With this move, I hope to encourage more people to take part in preserving Chinese artefacts and to promote patriotism and nationalism”, Mr Ho said in the statement. The piece is one of 12 animal heads from the Chinese zodiac that formed part of a water clock fountain designed by Jesuit missionaries. The heads marked time by spouting water.

Fat chance
A Hong Kong women landed HK$ 43 million on a Shufflemaster made Stargames slot machine at the Galaxy Starworld last month-but the machine malfunctioned, it was only supposed to pay HK$ 43,000 maximum. The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau ruled that they didn’t have to pay out HK$ 43 million, but it was the casino’s decision whether or not to pay her anything, according to reports. She got nothing.

17 days and one million visitors
Count them – one million visitors in just 17 days. That’s how many guests the Venetian clocked walking through their doors within just the first two weeks or so of opening. The world’s largest casino awarded the lucky “one-millionth” guest with two free nights hotel accommodation, a free dinner and cheque for HK$ 88,888. On average, the Venetian has witnessed 55,000 visitors per day.

Kiddies in casinos
Despite Stanley Ho’s 40-year gambling monopoly and Sands opening in 2004, the Macau government is now just deciding to revise its gambling regulations to keep minors out of casinos. Chief Executive Edmund Ho has said the government may introduce stricter rules such as forbidding the payment of winnings by people under 18 even to their parents. The move comes on the heels of problem earlier this year with a teenaged girl gambling at the Sands and complaints that the Venetian lacks stronger security for monitoring minors entering the gaming area. Current law forbids minors from entering casinos but has no provisions for punishments for those who enter and win.

July casino revenues surge 41.8 percent
Macau casino revenues surged 41.8 to MOP 6.52 billion in July, according to the Statistics and Census Service. The spike was the second-biggest month following May’s record catch of MOP 7.47 billion. During the first seven months of 2007, winnings shot-up 46.6 percent to MOP 44.5 billion. VIP baccarat accounted for 66.4 percent of all casino revenues in the first half of the year, up from 65 per cent last year and 62.7 per cent in 2005.

PokerTek headed to Macau
One of the largest live poker interests in the world is setting its sights on the GalaxyStarword, according to the wires. Recently, the first of five live PokerTek PokerPro tables were installed, four of which can entertain up to 10 players. If all goes as planned, more tables may be on the way. Regulations require a 90-day field trial in Macau before they can be allowed in public play. Once the trial ends, PokerTek will seek to place them in as may of Macau’s casinos as possible.

Bridge over troubled waters
Hong Kong’s northern Lantau is being proposed as a possible landing point for the Pearl River Delta bridge. Set to span from Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai. According to reports, Hong Kong’s Highways Department said the 100-hectare entry and exit point could also be set an on artificial island. Both sites would bring fiscal benefits, but would impact water quality and the ecology – hence bringing negative economic costs that have yet to be weighed. Recently, critics have said that bridge should be able to accommodate passengers and private car. The current bridge plan is only for commercial purposes and cargo.

Macau fund has rough first year
According company releases, the Macau Property Opportunities Fund (MPO) says they have pretax losses during their first full year of operation. The company claims that expenses outweighed revenues, but said their adjusted net asset value (NAV) per share rose 25.2 pct since they listed last year. While revenues stood at US$ 8.89 million, their expenses hit US$ 9.41 million. MPO also reported that their combined acquisition and estimated development costs have taken total commitments to-date of US$ 148 million, which amounts to 78 percent of the their total equity. The company added that their current nine sites have a combined value of about US$ 500 million and are at advanced stages of negotiation.

Harrah’s bought balls
The Orient Golf Course on Cotai has been snatched up by Harrah’s Entertainment for an undisclosed sum, according to reports. The 710,000 square metrrs of land is the second largest patch of land on Cotai and borders the Venetian property and Macao Studio City sites. Harrah’s, the world richest casino company in terms of revenue, was denied their own gaming concession in Macau in 2006. Which means they still need to acquire a sub-concession license before they can operate gaming in Macau. In the meantime, they’ll be stuck playing with their newly bought golf balls or developing the property into something else altogether.

Cultural property controversy
In the world of property development, historic site preservation sometimes leads to logger-heads. Such is the case over the 140-year old Guia Lighthouse. Currently, the UNESCO is assessing the impact of Macau’s urban growth to see if property development threatens the site. The are current plans to erect a 300-metre long wall of towers that will obscure views of the landmark, according to reports. Last September, the government relaxed a long-standing restriction on the maximum height of buildings near Guia Hill, paving the way for developers to plan buildings that will overshadow the landmark lighthouse. One development is a 90 metre tower for the central government’s liaison office – following reports, the central government dropped their previous plans for a 99.9 metre building. In June, the Macau government said they might set the height limit on buildings near Guia Hill to 90-metres. Currently, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which advises UNESCO on World Heritage sites, was studying a report submitted by Macau professionals on potential threats facing the lighthouse. The 60-page report is in part related to a grass-roots campaign with over 2,000 signatures to save one of the city’s central icons.

Marsico aggressive on Macau
Fund manager Marsico Capital Management is bullish and aggressive on Macau – particularly on the Venetian. That should come as no surprise given that the Las Vegas Sands Company is Marsico’s second largest holding. Through the Marsico 21st Century management fund, the firm is anticipating that the Venetian property on Cotai will hum owing to the “two billion people” living “in Macau’s backyard” and that, “the regional economy continues to boom, and thousands of Chinese enter the middle class every day”. Marsico is also confident because the property is seeing “66,000 to 86,000 visitors a day”.

MOP8 billion in property purchased
During the first half of 2007, over 8,369 real-estate sales and purchases contracts totaling MOP 8 billion took place, according the Macau Statistics and Census Service. This represents a 30.6 percent and 65.5 year-on-year rise, respectively. During Q2 2007, a total of 3,849 real-estate sales and purchase contracts took place, for a total of MOP 3.91 billion. Also during the first half of 2007, the number of mortgage credits granted hit the MOP 60.34 billion mark, a 40 percent year-on-year rise. The second quarter of 2007 also saw mortgage credits at MOP53.42 billion. Compared with the first quarter of 2007, the total value of mortgage credits surged by 6.7 times. Those relating to real estate purchases fell by 3.0 percent.

Jet Asia increases flight fleet
Stanley Ho’s Jet Asia has announced it will increase its current fleet to ten planes. The airline currently just has four and is the aviation wing of Sociedade de Turismo e Divorsoes de Macau (STDM). The expansion is part of its move to provide better VIP services and due to increased market pressure, according to reports. The Venetian and other casinos have soaked up some of the high-end VIP market and has put pressure on Ho’s Lisboa casinos.Jet Asia has also ordered six new Hawker eight-seat jet aircraft and one executive airliner. Hawker Beechcraft has announced that they’re selling Jet Asia midsize Hawker 900XPs and four shorter-range Hawker 750s. The planes will be placed in Macau, Shanghai, Taipei and Kuala Lumphur as early as December.

New online travel site for Macau
Macau.com has launched a brand new travel website. To promote the site, they gave away “288, five star hotel rooms at HK$1 each” on a first come first serve basis. The deal sold out quickly. The rooms were for the Lisboa and Hyatt. Offering several Asian languages, the site’s online booking system is equipped with “user-friendly trip planning guides” that offer “comprehensive content catered exclusively for Macau”. It also offers packages targeted at Macau-bound travellers who are also interested in the Pearl River Delta. Macau.com is owned by MKW Capital Management, a private equity firm that also owns Viva Macau.

Lenovo’s torch
Global PC maker Lenovo is inviting Macau’s beautiful minds to participate in a concept contest for the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch relay. As a key partner of the torch relay, Lenovo is seeking “new thinkers” from Macau who have the following criteria: an original “thinker” who has an innovative philosophy, a “motivator” who inspires the community to achieve goals and overcome obstacles, a “provocative” person, one who disregards traditional boundaries and strives to endeavour, and an “imaginative” mind who thinks outside national and cultural limitations, an “individualist” who demonstrates independence in their thoughts and actions and an “explorer”, someone who seeks new ways of doing and achieving. Any Macau citizen who wants to participate, should send an essay of up to 100 words to www.lenovo.com/mo/otr.

Hong Kong threatened by Macau MICE
Macau is expected to seize as much as 50 percent of the market for business meetings from Hong Kong over the next few years, according to Paul Leung Yiu-lam of the Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents. The primary losers of this shift will be Hong Kong’s dining, retail, hotel, entertainment and conference venues, Mr Leung said at a conference held at the Venetian. However, Hong Kong’s travel agents are unlikely to feel the pinch because they can bring business to Macau. The tourism boards of Hong Kong and Macau will soon meet to discuss ways to collaborate on the MICE market.

Luk Fook jewel expansion
Thanks to increased sales in Macau and Hong Kong, jewellery giant Luk Fook Group said they are expanding. They have already invested HK$ 10 million in high-tech intranet system in their processing factory of Panyu just south from Guangzhou. The upgraded system allows staff to access videos about daily operations to inform them about procedures for cleaning, gold buying and gift packaging.

Spotting seaplanes
Hong Kong based entrepreneur Michael Agopsowicz is planning to build a small fleet of seaplanes to bring travelers into Macau. With his company WaterfrontAir, Agopsowicz is seeking a financial backer to operate 18-seat De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter floatplanes that will run hourly between Kowloon Harbour to Cotai and the Macau peninsula- hence outmaneuvering the high-speed ferry and helicopter transport options. Agopsowicz told media that, “We’re faster than the ferry but cheaper than the helicopter”. He also told reporters that he plans to charge between HK$1,000 and HK$1,200 for a one-way trip, compared to HK$1,900 for a helicopter trip or as little as HK$130 for the jetfoil. He expects approval will take 18-24 months and around 100,000 passengers a year to use the planes. Flights will take around 20 minutes and they plan to 18 flights a day, but will not fly at night.

Courtesy: Macau Business

• Macau Casinos Continues Redundancies Things have gone so snake-eyed in Macao, the tiny gambling mecca on the southern coast of China, that the Venetian resort fired half its gondoliers two weeks ago. Only two...
• Macau News July 2007 North Korea-BDA saga over It's finally over. All of the frozen North Korean funds have been thawed and sent. All of the US$ 25 million dollars were wired out last...
• Looking Ahead, the Cotai Strip in 2014 From the terrace of my apartment on the 25th floor of One Grantai the whole of the Cotai Strip glitters below, from the subtle ochre shades of the Venetian Macao...

• Macau posts record first-quarter gambling receipts Photo : FAFP June 1, 2006 - HONG KONG (AFP) - Macau, southern China's gambling Mecca, has posted record casino revenues for the first quarter of 2006 amid expectations it...
• The adoption dimension "... adoptees see the "world" as an adoption issue...I look at it as losing another mother(father). Losing a parent during childhood is one strange theme to go through. But many...
• Alaska Crab Jobs Drop, Maintains Place as Top Fishing State While Alaska does continue to hold its own as the No. 1 fishing state in the Nation, employment in the crab fishery industry has dropped by a substantial amount because...