According to Morgan Stanley, due to pending licensing process that required another four to eight weeks, the opening of Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd’s Grand Lisboa Palace could be delayed to the third quarter this year.

SJM Holdings mentioned opening “during the first half of 2021”, in its first quarter results highlights in early May. The HKD39 billion Cotai plan is to house a Grand Lisboa Palace Hotel, a Palazzo Versace branded hotel and a Karl Lagerfeld branded hotel, along with gaming and other non-gaming facilities.

“We believe that Grand Lisboa Palace opening could be further delayed,” wrote Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd analysts Praveen Choudhary and Gareth Leung.

“It is waiting for occupancy permit and approval/licences from the Macao Government Tourism Office and the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, which could take another four to eight weeks as expected by management,” the analysts added.

SJM Holdings planned to launch first with “260 mass tables” and one hotel tower with 650 rooms, the analysts suggested. The Cotai property might not see retail rental business until “end-2021 or 2022”, and launch “44 VIP tables” in 2022 when the Versace branded hotel opens, the Morgan Stanley team also noted.

Pre-opening expenses of about HKD200 million per quarter were expected to continue for the new Cotai scheme, the analysts also said.

Editing by Rachel Hu