My, we are impressed. Just when everyone thought it was impossible to get a new piece of land in Cotai, Steve Wynn pulls one out of the bag.

According to the company’s disclosure to the HK stock exchange this morning, Wynn Macau SA (the gaming concessionaire) and a company called Palo Real Estate (also owned by Wynn) have agreed to the terms offered by the government for the 51-acre plot in Cotai that has had Wynn’s boardings around it for a few years now.

The terms, as outlined, are:

1) Palo will lease the land from the government and pay all the premiums (about HK$1.5bn);

2) Wynn will be “required” to operate a casino on the site;

3) The land must be developed within five years of the concession being gazetted.

Well, we suppose congratulations are in order. This is quite an accomplishment. The only pity is that it couldn’t have been announced last week by Ian Coughlan and Linda Chen as they cut the 5th birthday cake in front of staff.

As mentioned last week, Wynn Macau has been doing relatively well lately, but not as well as its Chinese relatives. Moreover, momentum has clearly started to shift to Cotai, and this will likely accelerate once Lot 5+6 starts to open next April. So even among the three American companies, Wynn had been increasingly seen as more like MGM than Sands China. This announcement, if it really is a firm agreement that just needs to be rubber-stamped before being gazetted, changes everything. It puts Wynn back in the “we have a development plan” game.

Comparisons with Sands China are probably still not really valid, of course. They play in different ballparks. And there is still much to be worked out for Wynn before the clock starts ticking on its new land concession. A formal announcement in the government gazette might still take months. So Lot 5+6 might get quite a head start by opening a few years before Wynn.

However, there can be little doubt that Wynn will not have any of the same problems as Sands has had in getting its own project open. There is major upside ahead for this company once again and we think there are several reasons to believe it can get the project open well before its 60-month timeline expires. Moreover, we think that when it is open, it will be a sensation. It’s time to reassess the company. Again.  Used with permission and copyright IntelMacau.com