Investors at NagaCorp Ltd. have recently requested from the company to provide them with a better assurance of its ability to perform in the region as a licensed gambling operator. Now the Cambodia-based company has taken the step of reassuring them that it has been granted the licenses needed to run its activities in the country.
Earlier this week, a filing was provided by NagaCorp to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as a proof of the company’s rights to manage a casino in Phnom Penh.
According to the information included in the documents, the Cambodia-based company has the exclusive rights to run a casino located in the capital and the adjacent area in a radius of over 200 kilometers. However, there are some geographical exceptions to these rights, including Bokor, which is a border area of Cambodia and Vietnam, Sihanoukville and Kirirom Mountains.
The exclusive rights of NagaCorp were extended until the end of 2035. Its allowance to maintain casino gaming activities in the country was given on January 2nd 1995 and has a 70-year period of legitimacy.
The Cambodia-bases company explained that the filing had been issued because it had “noted, whether with an intention to cause trouble or not, some questions on the company’s exclusivity rights”.
The interim report for 2014 of the company was filed in the middle of September. According to the report, the independent external advisor Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd was engaged by the company “to assess the investment risks in Cambodia”.
Currently, NagaCorp is working on the completion of the second stage of its casino project, which is planned to be finalized in 2017. The second phase of the project is estimated to about $370 million. It will become home to 1,000 new hotel rooms and suites, a large number of gaming areas and a 4,000-seat theater.
The gaming rights of the company have previously raised some concerns related to the rights’ connection to the political fortunes of Prime Minister Hun Sen. The latter has been recently facing some increasing domestic opposition to the government under his lead.
Still, NagaCorp has been trying to overcome the difficulties and continued boosting its investments in the country. After the completion of its project’s second phase called Naga2, which is expected to open in 2017, a third phase is also planned for development.
The company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2006, and has ever since been a top performer. The casino reported 24% increase in its 2013 annual revenue which amounted to more than $340 million.
