Well then.... he should be able to afford more than EFUT to hire a few traders to sit and trade against each other to manipulate the stocks right? Right? Right?
China Star News 29DEC2006 For Immediate Release. > Did Winnie Ho relieve Stanley Ho of all obligations just before she died? That is the question on everybodys lips especially those unfortunate souls at the spice market who witnessed the tragic accident. >As one witness recounted to China Star News: . " The guy from the movie he flipped way to far back and bam right on sister Winnie's neck he landed ... she lay there unable to speak for a moment, so I leaned way in close and she said ... > " Tell Stanly- go forth and raise funds from other sources, I relieve you of all obligations... " and then she died right there in front of me. >Is the long standing Ho feud over? There is some debate, other passer buyers related a different set of last words. >" Just tell Stanly try it ," Kevin McHale- sage dryer- recalled . Then she said " Try to raise funds from other Nations, it's not going to happen. " > The intrigue is building and the big funeral isn't even here yet. L Lee Three China Star News Shanghai
Lawrence Ho stands at a crossroads in his life and at a crossroads in the development of Melco International, the company he now controls after his father Stanley Ho stepped down as chairman. Melco's access to Macau's last gaming sub-concession (until at least 2009) thanks to its partnership with the Australian company Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd, gives Lawrence Ho the chance to move out from under his father's shadow once and for all and to build his own gambling empire. The question is, could it be at the expense of his family's hard-won casino business rather than alongside it? Lawrence, an energetic and optimistic 28 year old, is seen by some as the great modernizer, the man who wants to move gaming from the smoky halls of yesteryear (an environment he once reportedly described as "crappy") to a bright mass market future filled, even if not totally dominated, by slots. The arrival of US operators in Macau has shaken up the local gaming market and internationalized it. If anyone is in a position to take advantage of this, suggest some observers, it is Lawrence Ho - the archetypal child of globalization - a Canadian-educated 'great communicator' and enthusiast, equally at home sharing a boardroom joke in English with expatriate bankers (he worked for Jardine Fleming and Citibank after graduation), as he is in sensing the needs of his Chinese customers. It's possible Melco could be the dry run for running the whole empire, although there are clear regulatory and corporate governance reasons why the vehicle for doing that may not be via the father's umbrella company Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM) or even its offshoot Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM). Many sneer that Lawrence wouldn't be where he is today were it not for his father. Melco was a ready made vehicle, starting life as the Macau Electric Lighting Company Ltd, and had been on the Hong Kong Stock Market since 1927. That shouldn't, however, blind people from giving credit where credit is due. Although he is not yet 30, Lawrence has a strategic alliance with the biggest private gaming operator in Australia and Melco is now the biggest slot operator in Macau with 1,000 machines, each one swallowing around HK$ 2,000 per day - more than twice the average daily revenues (amounting to HK$ 936 per machine) produced in Las Vegas. His ambition does not stop there. He is on the way to creating a mega entertainment resort City of Dreams, aimed at transforming Macau into "Asia's entertainment gaming centre" despite recent spats about whether its famous underwater casino will be one dream too far. Lawrence is the scion of a large family, with the branches rather resembling the complex structure of the Ho business empire itself. Although Ho 'Pere' has 17 children, the most serious contenders for the succession are Lawrence and Pansy - both the product of his second marriage. The other siblings from that marriage are Daisy, Maisy and Josie. Lawrence is the eldest surviving son. His half brother by Ho Senior's first wife, Clementina Leitao, died in a car accident in Portugal in 1981. While his sister Pansy, managing director of Shun Tak Holdings, has proven that portion of the family business is safe in her hands, Lawrence is also a clear candidate for a controlling role in the empire. And in terms of any succession, Stanley has so far carefully balanced his "support" for both his son and his daughter. Lawrence Ho was educated in Canada, graduating from Toronto University with a BA in Commerce. He returned to Hong Kong in 1999. He worked in banking first, before joining Asia, an online stock-trading platform provider controlled by his father. His entry into Melco was achieved through purchase of 12.6 per cent of its stock from his sisters, Pansy and Daisy. The turning point of his career arrived in 2004 when he spotted a gap in the gaming market and struck a deal with SJM to operate slot machines under the SJM license. The slot venture proved a phenomenal success, generating enough revenue to turn loss-making Melco into profit. While most of the Macao concept stocks slumped spectacularly within a short time, Melco was one of the few companies that survived the bubble burst. The recent sub concession deal boosts Melco shares to a record high of HK$ 14.75, driving its market capitalization to well over HK$ 16 billion. While his business acumen may be directly attributable to the good genes of his father, his private life is markedly less colorful. Lawrence Ho cultivates an image of a family man, a far cry from his father's playboy persona or even his sister, Pansy, who is often described as a party girl by the Hong Kong media. He is married to Sharen Lo, the granddaughter of the founder of Vitasoy, the Hong Kong-based beverage manufacturer. He described his marriage as the "most rewarding and most unregretful gamble" ever made in his 28 year life. He told Macau Business in a recent interview (October 2005 P12) that there are people who have discounted him as a successful businessman since the beginning because his family is too rich for him to concentrate on his work. "I like to prove people wrong," he said defiantly. However, the decision to pay a premium for the last casino license and withdraw the Melco/PBL joint venture from under the umbrella of SJM has courted criticism from Stanley Ho's traditional allies who are undoubtedly vying for a piece of the action as well. An SJM insider tells Macau Business that the octogenarian billionaire often went out of his way to help his children and that this upset some of his allies. He said that the subconcession deal with MGM went ahead without the support of the senior executives at SJM and he also single-handedly approved the deal to pay Wynn US$ 900 million for the final gaming license available in Macau's current round of development. The source also says that some senior executives at SJM view the Melco/PBL and Pansy Ho/MGM joint ventures as threats to SJM's market dominance. In an interview with the Australian Financial Review in January, Lawrence Ho appeared to preempt the criticism. He said that having an international gaming operator as a partner was the way to help SJM compete with the American newcomers. "If you ask any monopolist to switch into a natural competition or all-out competitive environment, then it's typically very hard," Ho Junior was quoted as saying. "Listening to their strategies, I thought the traditional way of doing things would not work in Macau anymore," he added. So far Lawrence Ho has enjoyed proving other people wrong. Now he will have to prove that he is right. * * * * * * This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. My favorite parts our 28 year old CEO had to buy his way into MELCO by buying shares from his sisters! And " Party Girl " Pansy she's obviously my favorite player in this whole mess. Lawrence went ahead and bought the WYNN license with his father's money but without telling dear old dad's company and now in effect is going to be a competitor! WOW! And not one mention of the old man's crazy sister suing everyone. This is going to get ugly. Before then I think we're all going to make some money! These Ho's are rich as hell! If they have to they will put their own money into this project. It's a VANITY CASINO it has to work out! Family rep is on the line. I can't wait for the son to power through the underwater casino that is going to be dope! And man that is going to shake their little empire financially... Got to hitch a ride with the Ho's here, unless father and son kill each other...the crazy Ho's this is epic stuff- The reverse merger into the age old lighting comnpany. Snap I've been listed on the Hong Kong since 1929 just like that! Folks I just wished I lived in Macau it sounds great- much better than Vegas......
Er... Stoned... it sounds like old Dallas reruns... now when Stanley (or Winnie, pick one) drops dead, we'll have, "Who shot Stanley?" BUT... it does seem like this IPO isn't destined for failure... I mean if Lawrence starts falling down in competition with his father's company, all he has to do is borrow some of the old man's money to bail it out. That has to be funny when those involved think about it. Buy MPEL! BUY BUY! Ok, if you don't wanna buy, just watch the show, this is a good one.
I'm starting to get mad! This freakin MPEL @ $21! There was a new tax levelled at developers on the Chinese mainland that can range from 30%-60%! This does not affect Macau and thus MPEL's properties have become THAT MUCH more valuable. Take a look at the overall gaming market now over there.... Macau Overtakes Las Vegas Strip in Gaming Revenue (Update6) By Clare Cheung Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Macau's gaming revenue surged 22 percent in 2006, surpassing the Las Vegas Strip as the world's biggest casino market. The Chinese city's gambling industry reaped 55.9 billion patacas ($6.95 billion) in revenue, according to the Web site of the industry regulator. Analysts estimate the Las Vegas Strip took in between $6.5 billion and $6.6 billion last year. Macau's gambling revenue started to surge in 2004, when Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Galaxy Casino SA ended the four-decade monopoly of billionaire Stanley Ho. Foreign investors are staking $20 billion on making the city, a former Portuguese colony, into the gambling capital of Asia. ``Macau is growing at a much more rapid pace than the Las Vegas Strip,'' said Rob Hart, a Hong Kong-based gaming and property market strategist for Morgan Stanley who estimated the U.S. city's gaming 2006 revenue at $6.5 billion. ``They've got a lot of new casinos opening this year.'' Seven new casinos opened in Macau last year, bringing the total to 24. The number of gaming tables doubled in the period to 2,762, according to the Web site of Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The State of Nevada's Gaming Control Board, which regulates the Las Vegas gambling industry, is yet to release full-year figures. Las Vegas Strip gambling revenue gained 15 percent to $6.4 billion in the year through June, the board has said. Surging Revenue In the fourth quarter, revenue surged 43 percent from the year before to 16.6 billion patacas. Macau's gaming revenue in the three months to Dec. 31 almost matched its performance for all of 2000, when it had 17.1 billion patacas for the entire 12 months. The city attracted 22 million visitors in 2006, an increase of 17 percent from 2005, according to statistics released on Jan. 17 by Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, director of Macau's tourism office. In total, 2.2 billion people live within five hours' flying time of Macau, according to CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, compared with 410 million in the same radius of Las Vegas. Adelson said he recouped his $260 million investment in Macau in eight months. Wynn Resorts opened the $1.2 billion Wynn Macau in September on the Chinese island. The Las Vegas-based company, operated by billionaire Steve Wynn, also plans to build a second casino there. Kirk Kerkorian of MGM Mirage is also building a new resort in the city. ``Macau is a staggering market,'' MGM Mirage Chief Executive Officer Terrence Lanni, 63, said during an interview earlier this month. Bright Beacon Macau now earns 70 percent of its revenue from casino taxes. The economy has doubled in four years to $12 billion. The city's gaming revenue may reach $8 billion in 2007, mainly driven by the scheduled opening of Las Vegas Sands' Venetian Macao in the middle of this year, Jonathan Galaviz, a partner at Globalysis Ltd., wrote in a report in August. The Las Vegas-based gaming consulting company estimated 2006 revenue in the Las Vegas Strip at $6.6 billion. ``Macau will continue to be the bright beacon of strong casino gaming revenue performance in 2007 even with other jurisdictions in Asia, such as Singapore, continuing to move forward with casino gaming liberalization or legalization,'' Galaviz said in an e-mailed reply in response to questions today. Singapore Next Foreign investors are also targeting Singapore, Japan, Vietnam and other Asian countries, as governments move to lift decades-long restrictions on casinos. The next gambling venue that will open up is Singapore, where in May the government issued its first casino license to Las Vegas Sands. Adelson will spend $3.6 billion building a casino and a 2,500-room hotel and convention center on reclaimed land in Marina Bay, near Singapore's downtown. In December, Singapore authorities announced that a second license -- the last to be granted for at least 10 years -- had been awarded to Asia's biggest casino company, Kuala Lumpur-based Genting Bhd., controlled by billionaire Lim Kok Thay. Shares of Star Cruises Ltd., Asia's largest cruise operator, surged as much as 66 percent today after Stanley Ho made a personal investment in the company. Ho agreed to buy HK$274.8 million ($35 million) of shares in Star Cruises. The company, also controlled by Genting's Lim, will sell a total of HK$584 million of shares to five investors, it said. Star Cruises also entered into an agreement for Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau to operate a casino in a boutique hotel to be built in Macau. ``There is a much larger population close to Macau than close to Singapore,'' said Hart. ``The Chinese gamblers in the mass market will keep going to Macau because it's much closer than to Singapore.'' >> First off that's our STANLEY HO! Goddamn it why can't he invest in MPEL and nmake it go up 66% in a day! I'm forced to come to a stock manipulation conclusion here folks, there just is no reason why this stock is not up $10. I will wait for initiation of coverage from the houses but really this is getting foolish- MPEL get your ass up and off the ground and start going UP.
I'm feeling hunchy about MPEL. Can't explain, recent articles about Macau, guy on fastmoney tonight said he bought a lot on friday (never saw the show before talk about corny! But it's mostly Dillan's fault)-- it's about time coverage was initiated isn't it? Spike coming.
Maybe. The casinos aren't supposed to open til Fall. I don't think you can lose money on this unless something happens. The gains remain to be seen. This has been a really boring stock for the last month tho.
blast I sold yesterday. Not happy lost $1000. I know it will go back eventually and I would break even but at this point I'd rather just use the capitol somewhere else like IOMI!