Casino owner Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd has applied to the Hong Kong stock exchange for a dual listing in the Chinese territory, it said on Thursday.
The plan of U.S.-listed Melco Crown, a joint venture between Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development Ltd and Australia’s Crown Ltd , will be subject to regulatory approval, it said in a statement.
“It is worth noting that today all other casino operators in Macau, including those from the U.S., have their Macau operations listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange,” said Lawrence Ho, Melco Crown’s co-chairman and CEO.
For instance, Las Vegas Sands Corp’s Macau unit Sands China Ltd and Wynn Resorts Ltd’s subsidiary Wynn Macau Ltd are listed in Hong Kong.
“A dual listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange will also allow local and Asian investors to directly access investment opportunities in our company, thus broadening our investor universe,” Ho said in the statement.
Melco Crown did not give a timeframe for the listing, and it is not immediately clear whether it plans to issue new shares.
