In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the firm behind the under-construction Imperial Palace Saipan has reportedly announced that one of its subsidiaries has purchased a 50% stake in a local property development firm.

Partial purchase:

According to a Thursday report, Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited used an official filing to reveal that its Excel Earth Limited subordinate paid an entity called First Sinopan International Limited approximately $23.65 million for the interest in American Sinopan LLC and its pair of local development projects.

Ongoing developments:

GGRAsia reported that Garapan-headquartered American Sinopan LLC owns around 32 acres of land on Saipan split between two parcels. The firm is purportedly constructing a three-story public facility as well as twelve villas on the first and has intentions of building a 1,700-room hotel on the second.

Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited’s filing reportedly read…

“In view of the location and the uses of the lands under the target company, the directors consider that the acquisition of the target company is in line with the business development of the group.”

Hotel woes:

Imperial Pacific began welcoming gamblers to its Imperial Palace Saipan facility in July of 2017 to enjoy a selection of some 350 slots and 200 gaming tables. But work on the giant venue’s adjacent 14-story hotel has since stalled with the operator blaming the repeated series of holdups on a variety of problems ranging from bad weather to the lack of a skilled workforce.

Financially flush:

GGRAsia reported that the Saipan hotel component is now not expected to be open until at least February of 2021 while Imperial Pacific is now hoping to be able to speed up the construction process after agreeing a series of loan deals including one in May with Japanese investment firm GCM Limited that saw it secure some $500 million.