US’s MGM plans its return to Vietnam

MGM had withdrawn from a $4.2 billion project in March 2013 without saying why, but seems to have encountered no difficulty in returning with a new investment project.

The global hospitality and entertainment company will now be a part of a new resort project near travel hot spot Hoi An in central Vietnam.

MGM will partner with Vietnamese real estate firm Bamboo Capital in managing the VND2 trillion ($86 million) Malibu Resort Hoi An on Ha My beach.

MGM would have managed the first resort on the Ho Tram Strip project in the southern Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, had it not broken a deal with the Canada-based Asian Coast Development Ltd (ACDL) which was the project’s main investor.

It didn’t give a reason for withdrawing from the mega project, which would consist of 9,000 5-star hotel rooms, a golf course and a casino with 2,000 slot machines by 2020.

But MGM has returned with a new vision and will only focus on managing resorts, said a representative of Bamboo Capital at the Malibu Resort Hoi An signing ceremony.

The company will not manage both casinos and hotels as it used to years go, the representative said, adding that the current partnership is based on sound legal foundations.

MGM reported a net income of $2.0 billion last year.