Australian Gaming Tycoon Bets on Sri Lanka. James Packer Scouting Sri Lanka for Potential Investments in His Global Casino Empire

27th February 2013, www.livemint.com

Australian gambling tycoon James Packer may be lining up a bet on Sri Lanka, scouting the Indian Ocean island for potential investments as he seeks to build a global casino empire.


Packer, who owns half of casino operator Crown Ltd, met with Sri Lankan ministers this week to discuss hotel and entertainment investment options, according to officials who met with him.

“They have not finalized the area and the amount they are going to invest. The government has asked them to come up with a proposal,” Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene, Sri Lanka’s minister of investment promotion, told Reuters on Wednesday. “The government proposed (for) them to invest in a large city hotel in Colombo and go to (the eastern city of) Trincomalee to look into possible investment opportunities.”

Treasury secretary P.B. Jayasundera said Packer had expressed an interest in “integrated tourism”, which typically includes hotels, casinos and other entertainment.

A Crown spokesman said the company would not comment about potential investments in Sri Lanka.
Analysts said Packer’s interest in Sri Lanka was unexpected.

“I would have thought their focus would be more with Southeast Asia rather than somewhere like Sri Lanka,” said one Australian-based gaming analyst, who declined to be identified.

However, Sri Lanka offered some potential for an early mover. “It’s probably not a bad move in some ways,” said Akshay Chopra, a portfolio manager at Karara Capital, who visited the country in December. “The Sri Lankan government is making a lot of changes, you’ve got China investing a lot of money in Sri Lanka, building a lot of infrastructure and you’re close to India and a big gaming market there.”

Packer is ranked Australia’s third-richest person with a fortune of $6 billion, according to Forbes. Last year, he cashed out of his family’s publishing and broadcasting assets for about $1 billion to concentrate on his gambling business, which span casinos in Australia, Macau, Britain and the United States.

Packer’s Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd plans to build a $1 billion casino in the Philippines in partnership with Philippines’ wealthiest man, Henry Sy.

Sri Lanka expects its economy to grow at 7 percent or more this year, fuelled by major infrastructure projects, and is targeting about $1.5 billion in foreign direct investment after missing its $2 billion target in 2012.

The country has allowed casino gambling off and on since at least the 1980s and currently has about nine properties including the Bellagio Colombo, operated by India’s Delta Corp. and unrelated to the Bellagio Las Vegas operated by MGM Resorts.

Australia's Mitchell Group Signs Sri Lanka’s Biggest ever FDI Project, $700mn Trinco Gateway Park Industrial Development Project

12th March 2011, www.dailynews.lk

The Mitchell Consortium, an international group led by Australian company Mitchell Group Holdings, has signed an exclusive agreement with the Sri Lankan Government to head up Sri Lanka’s largest ever foreign direct investment for an industrial development project.

The Sri Lankan Government will remain as a strategic partner.

The project master plan includes development of a bulk commodities terminal with stockpiling and blending capabilities, an export coke production plant and an iron ore palletisation plant at Trincomalee Bay.

The project will be delivered in phases, with a total value exceeding US $ 2 billion.

The first phase of the project, valued at US $ 700 million, includes a deepwater jetty and stockpiling facility. The consortium is also investigating development of other related industries in the region.

Dubbed the Trinco Gateway Park, the project will open pathways for the export and import markets of Asia, Africa and Australia and provide a strategic access gateway to satisfy the growing demands of the Indian market.

The project consortium will operate through Sri Lanka Gateway Industries Pte Ltd.

It consists of Mitchell Group Holdings, specialising in delivering international energy-related projects; Salva Corp, specialising in international bulk materials marketing and large scale international project delivery; Sri Lankan development partner Asset Holdings and is being advised by a number of international firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ausenco Sandwell.

Mitchell Group Holdings CEO Nathan Mitchell said Trincomalee Bay would serve as a strategic gateway.

“The development will be a centrally-located, deepwater gateway for international bulk commodities movements, which has the potential to accommodate 400,000t Chinamax vessels,” he said.

The group has completed detailed engineering and environmental studies, now progressing to the next technical planning phase using World Bank environmental standards as a benchmark for the project.

“Conceptual Development Plans for the project will see construction of a deepwater port with upto 80Mt capacity, together with bulk commodity stockpiling and loading facilities, a 5Mtpa coke plant and a 5Mtpa iron ore palletisation plant,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the Trinco Gateway Park project would serve to economically benefit local communities and the wider region. “The Trincomalee region will benefit through direct employment opportunities, community development and up-skilling during construction and long-term operation of the project,” he said.

The consortium will establish local vocational training centres in partnership with leading industry specialists.

Image: Board of Investment Chairman Jayampathy Bandaranayake exchanging the agreement with Mitchell Group Holdings CEO Nathan Mitchell.

Related Info :

• Australian Consortium to Set up Heavy Industries in the Eastern Port of Trincomalee with $700mn Investment

Australian Consortium to Set up Heavy Industries in the Eastern Port of Trincomalee with $700mn Investment

24th February 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka is considering a proposal by an Australian consortium to set up heavy industries in the eastern port of Trincomalee with an investment of 700 million US dollars, a government statement said.

The government is to set up a special zone for heavy industries in Trincomalee to provide access to a deep-water port for investors keen to enter the island after the end of its 30-year ethnic war, a spokesman said.

"There's so much of enthusiasm by businessmen and foreign investors, particularly in the region, to invest in the counter after 30 years of war," media minister Keheliya Rambukwella told a news conference.

"They found that this country that can be commercial hub. One of major components needed is access to a port and the government has decided to set up a zone particularly for heavy industries which need port access."

The statement said Mitchell Consortium, a multinational consortium from Australia with partners from Brazil and Sri Lanka, has made an unsolicited proposal for a zone with heavy industries.

These include a coking coal or metallurgical coal and an iron ore palletizing plant for steel making, and a sugar refinery.

The zone for heavy industries is to be set up on 97 square kilometres of land in the Sampur area of Trincomalee, near the entrance to the bay, part of which has already been earmarked for an Indo-Lanka joint venture coal power plant.

The statement said the Cabinet of ministers gave approval for the consortium to conduct feasibility studies for the project, the first phase of which will be 700 million dollars.

Rambukwella said environmental safeguards will be given high priority in the project.

Related Info :

• Sri Lanka Invites Investments on Trinco Port. Large Tracts of Land in the Eastern Port to be Made Available by March

$2.4bn Steel Plant in Trinco, Sri Lanka. Australian Investment is the Biggest Ever BOI Project

13th December 2009, www.sundaytimes.lk

Sri Lanka is slated to get a US$ 2.4 billion steel plant investment from some Australian investors soon, according to informed sources. “It will most probably be set up at the Heavy Industry Zone scheduled to be put up in the East – Trincomalee and would begin after the land is sorted out,” one source told the Business Times.

He said it is a Board of Investment (BOI) project and that a team from Australia visited the BOI and had discussions with its officials. BOI officials were unavailable for comment.