Melco-Crown has never been in better shape. Regular readers of this newsletter know how much we like the company, for a variety of reasons. Adding to those now is the fact that, starting Wednesday, it will have its shares traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Why should this matter? Why indeed. The company says it has done the listing “by introduction” in order to get on a level playing field with its peers in Macau, all of whom are listed in Hong Kong. Access to wider sources of funding, etc, etc, blah, blah. What we really like about it is that the company now has its shares on its home turf. Readers can take that to mean whatever they like, but the essence of it is that if the much-touted “win-win” relationship between the US and China ever does start to sour to the point that trade spats become more serious, MPEL will have at least one leg on the right side of it and can give up the other leg if necessary.
In the meantime, we noticed a very interesting trend today while looking at some data estimates. It would seem that MPEL was the biggest gainer in mass gaming revenues last month over the previous month. SJM did better in percentage gain of market share MoM, but that’s simply because its relative numbers are so much bigger. MPEL had the biggest gain in terms of a dollar figure. Moreover, the contrast of fortunes was striking when compared to its neighbor, which is gearing up to open Lot 5&6 early next year. Ted Chan’s band of merry men must be at it again in Sherwood Forest. We like their style. Used with permission and copyright IntelMacau.com
