Lippo Ltd, a property developer, revealed that there was uncertainty whether the joint gaming project with Caesars Entertainment Corporation would proceed. The joint venture was started back in 2013 in Incheon, South Korea and it was given the green light by the government in 2014. However, the realisation of the resort casino is still not 100% certain, according to Lippo.
On Monday, the company stated that a consensus on all conditions in the conditional land sale and purchase agreement still hasn’t been met; the agreement expires at the end of this year and thus it’s not known whether the two parties would be able to find common ground. At the end of 2014 Lippo and Caesars made a deal to buy a land plot of about 80,170 square metres on which the resort was planned to be built.
The statement by Lippo said that LOCZ Korea Corporation was discussing the acquisition and possible deadline extension with MIDAN City Development Co Ltd, the company that controls the property of interest. However, having in mind that MIDAN is in fact a subsidiary 55% owned by Lippo, there’s been speculation that the trembling giant, Caesars Entertainment is the one responsible for the current situation.
Caesars has been facing some very big problems. Namely, junior creditors are trying to force the company to honour the Caesars operating company’s debts, an event that could lead to bankruptcy for the parent corporation. Therefore, some experts have been wondering whether Lippo is buying time to see how the legal battle unfolds before continuing with the project.
The consortium made of Lippo and Caesars wanted to invest approximately $2 billion in the gaming project that was expected to include a casino, hotels, shopping malls, convention centres and even residential buildings.