“Asia’s growing economy has thrown up tremendous opportunities for CapitaLand in the leisure, entertainment and conventions sector. We are very excited about the prospects of large scale, world-class integrated resort developments like Macao Studio City. It is an excellent example of how we participate in the region’s tourism boom. At the same time, we aim to use such iconic integrated projects to create new opportunities for the Group’s other
business units.”
Mr Wong Heang Fine
CEO, CapitaLand ILEC Pte. Ltd.

CapitaLand Integrated Leisure, Entertainment and Conventions (ILEC) is a new business unit set up to develop integrated developments incorporating leisure, entertainment and conventions as their key themes. ILEC will leverage on the Group’s real estate competencies, partner relationships and intellectual capital to construct integrated resorts with exceptional design and development concepts.

Asia is fast gaining popularity among resort and gaming developers. Currently, Macau stands out in Asia as a gaming destination. Macau’s gaming revenues soared to almost US$6.9 billion in 2006, surpassing Las Vegas Strip’s US$6.69 billion to become the world’s top gaming destination. Macau’s growth is being driven by continued increases in tourism, with visitor arrivals at a record 22 million in 2006 – up 17% from 2005 – of which more than half were mainland China arrivals. In addition, as the world becomes increasingly affluent, and especially with many consumers in Asia seeking a dynamic tourism experience, demand for integrated resorts will be on the rise.

Against this positive backdrop, ILEC can steadily build up its knowledge through collaborations with industry experts. Using the Group’s property development competencies as leverage, ILEC is able to contribute its best creative ideas and resources to partners who already possess experience in resort development and management.

In 2006, ILEC partnered two international resort developers, MGM MIRAGE and Kerzner International, to separately submit proposals for integrated resorts to be built at Marina Bayfront and on Sentosa Island respectively. Although ILEC did not win the bids, the many lessons learnt and the domain knowledge gathered during the two bid preparations enabled it to take a strategic 20% stake in Macao Studio City. This is CapitaLand’s first investment in Macau. Billed as Asia’s first leisure resort property combining theatre, television and film production facilities, and retail, with gaming, entertainment and world-class hotels, Macao Studio City is located in a prime location at Cotai in Macau. The project will be developed on a 35-acre site located next to the new Lotus Bridge immigration checkpoint, linking the development directly to Zhuhai, China.

As the development of large-scale integrated resorts require not only long-term capital commitments but also strong domain knowledge, ILEC will only select financially strong partners with proven track records in developing these integrated resorts.

Going forward, ILEC will be looking beyond local boundaries to strengthen and scale up its expertise in this business, learning from its partners from previous alliances, as well as from other top industry players.

ILEC will continue to look at China, India, other Asian countries and beyond to expand. One distinctive feature of ILEC’s future projects will be its ability to integrate the other business units such as residential, retail, and serviced residences, into its development plans. ILEC will serve as a “pathfinder” for the Group and lead the way to create additional real estate opportunities for the Group.