Hong Kong’s Chow Tai Fook and Macau’s Sun City have replaced Genting Berhad Malaysia in a US$4-billion integrated resort project in Quang Nam Province.

The government of Quang Nam Province on Monday awarded a revised investment certificate to the South Hoi An resort project with involvement of Chow Tai Fook, Sun City and the project’s existing investor VinaCapital.

Genting Berhad Malaysia had withdrawn from the project in Duy Xuyen and Thang Binh districts.

Do Xuan Dien, head of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone Authority, told the Daily on the phone on March 24 that VinaCapital formerly held a majority stake in the project but after Genting Berhad Malaysia’s pullout, Chow Tai Fook became the majority stakeholder.

According to the economic zone authority, it had carefully examined the financial capabilities of the two new investors and found that they are financially able to accelerate the implementation of the project.

Dien said with the newly adjusted investment certificate, phase one of the project would spend half a billion U.S. dollars on developing hotel, golf course and casino and would be put into service in late 2018 or early 2019.

According to Dien, the project’s US$4 billion investment capital registered in 2010 remains unchanged but there are some changes in scale and implementation pace.

In the old investment certificate, VinaCapital held an 80% stake and Genting the remainder.

In late 2012, Genting announced to withdraw from the project, forcing VinaCapital to seek new partners. VinaCapital sought approval from the provincial government for Peninsula Pacific to replace Genting one year later but since then this proposal had not materialized.

Chow Tai Fook is owned by the family of Cheng Yu-Tung, the fourth richest man in Hong Kong.

In addition to the South Hoi An resort project, Quang Nam Province issued the investment certificates to 11 other projects on Monday, with six of them involving foreign firms and worth a combined US$50 million, and the remainder developed by domestic companies and costing a total of VND1.685 trillion.

Those projects include Tam Thang dyeing, textile, garment factory worth US$30 million of South Korea’s PanKo, a US$6-million garment factory of South Korea’s One Woo, a yarn, dyeing, garment complex worth VND1.2 trillion of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group and the Binh Phuc yarn factory valued at VND180 billion of Hoa Tho Textile and Garment Corporation.

SGT