ESun Holdings sold $455 million worth of new shares yesterday to pay for part of the land premium for its $20 billion project in Macau's Cotai site.
The entertainment arm of Lai Sun Group had obtained approval from the Macau government to develop the East Television City project into a casino, hotel and convention centre facility, a source said.
The source added that the plot ratio of the project would be lifted to four or higher, which translated into a gross floor area of six million square feet.
The proposed development consists of a film studio, concert hall, convention centre and retail complex, two four-star to five-star hotels and an all-suite hotel with a gross floor area of about 340,000 square metres, assuming a plot ratio below 3.5, according to a company release in May last year.
The plot ratio adjustment for developments in Cotai is considered a general policy change as Chinese Estates Holdings, Melco International Development and Shun Tak Holdings have all applied to revise their projects' plot ratios. Only Chinese Estates has been allowed a revision.
Lai Fung Holdings, Lai Sun's mainland property arm that is assumed to shoulder 40 per cent of the investment cost in a memorandum of understanding signed in December, would bring in Singapore's CapitaLand as a strategic investor in the project, the source said.
