Imperial Pacific International Holdings (IPI) has entered into agreements with two independent third parties to lease a majority of its hotel rooms and villas, and to set up a shopping mall, at its Saipan integrated resort, Imperial Palace‧Saipan.
This is despite ongoing negotiations between IPI and the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) over the fate of the company’s Saipan casino license, which has been suspended since April 2021 and is on the verge of being revoked. The casino has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
IPI revealed Thursday that it has signed a four-year agreement with Sino Travel Samoa Limited for the latter to underwrite the leasing of 250 hotel rooms and 15 villas at Imperial Palace, pending the receipt of all necessary licenses and approvals from Saipan’s authorities in relation to the operation of Imperial Palace.
The annual gross rental income underwritten by Sino Travel will not be less than US$104.4 million at an average rate of US$1,000 per hotel room per day and US$2,400 per villa per day, IPI said, with the travel agency to provide “full support to the operator of Imperial Palace by recruiting or outsourcing a hotel management team to operate Imperial Palace in a manner of a 6-star hotel.”
Sino Travel is described as providing travel-related services including planning and selling transportation, accommodation, insurance and other travel services covering Hong Kong, China, India and Samoa.
Separately, IPI said it has signed an exclusive cooperation agreement that will see it form a joint venture with Jiadingsheng Supply Chain Management Co Ltd – a company founded in Fujian, China in 2010, to operate a shopping mall at Imperial Palace for a term of four years from 20 October 2022.
The mall will cover around 1,000 square meters on the ground floor of Imperial with Palace with Jiadingsheng guaranteeing a minimum annual revenue of HK$300 million (US$38.5 million) and net profit of HK$20 million (US$2.6 million).
IPI said the agreements were designed to bring in much-needed revenue while it negotiates to retain its casino license.
“The Group has been actively communicating with [the] CCC for a settlement proposal with an aim to resume the casino resort developer license as soon as practicable,” it said. “Meanwhile, the Group has been formulating business strategies to utilise the Group’s currently available resources in generating income on the resort and leisure travelling part of the Saipan project with an aim to maximise Shareholder’s value.
“The Company is of the view that the entering into of the Underwriting Agreement and the Exclusive Cooperation Agreement would provide an opportunity for the Group to utilise the Group’s currently available resources in generating income on the resort and leisure travelling part of the Saipan project amid the temporary suspension of the casino resort developer license.”
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