South African hotel and casino operator Sun International is eying expansion across Latin America to extend its global footprint and capitalize on the opportunities offered by the region’s highly attractive gambling market.
Completing a merger with local operator Dreams SA, Sun International now owns 55% in the combined entity and manages a wide portfolio of hotel and casino properties. Graeme Stephens, CEO of the South African company, told Reuters that they will be bidding for additional casino licenses in Chile in 2017 and also project expansion into Brazil’s gambling market, which is likely to be opened for a wider variety of gaming and betting operations any time now.
Mr. Stephens explained that their plans for future growth in the region are well-advanced and that Peru, Brazil, and Chile will be their top expansion destinations for the near future.
When asked about their choice of Latin America as the market to extend their footprint into, the executive noted that his company has a low debt level on its balance sheet for that particular region, which provides them with the resources and capacity to enter into new deals.
Sun International has been deriving one third of its revenue from its Latin American operations and expects the proportion to grow in the years to come. As Mr. Stephens pointed out, this will give his company more opportunities to expand.
The South African operator has recently disposed of properties across Africa, including Nigeria, so as to focus the greater part of its attention on its domestic market and on its Latin American endeavor.
Sun International and Chile’s Dreams SA announced their merger this summer. Sun Dreams, as the combined entity has been named, now manages 13 casino properties with around 6,500 slot machines and 33 table games in Chile, Panama, Peru, and Colombia.
Mr. Stephens, who is set to resign from his Chief Executive post in April 2017, has been highly praised for leading the company into a merger that is expected to result in its successful expansion in the Latin American casino market.
Although revenue and profits from the operator’s South American operations have been growing at an excellent pace, Sun International still generates 69% of its revenue and 73% of its profit from its South African properties.
