In April it was widely reported that Melco Crown Entertainment (60% owner of Studio City International Holdings Ltd) could find itself in technical default with lenders by October 1, 2016 if they are operating?less than 400 tables at?Studio City on that date. In a Tuesday press release it was announced that Studio City International Holdings ?have engaged Kirkland and Ellis LLP as its counsel and Moelis and Co LLC as its investment banker to assist it with contingency planning ahead of any table allocation decision for Studio City.
The Macau government will decide the number of new tables to be allotted to the?multi-billion dollar project on the Cotai Strip. The similarly sized Galaxy Macau Phase II opened in May with an allocation of just 150 tables and analysts have predicted a similar number for Studio City due to new-to-market table caps and the size and scope of the projects.
Melco Crown, owned by Lawrence Ho and James Packer, has the option of moving tables from their other Macau properties and has well over a year to come in-line with certain conditions of a $1.4 billion credit facility. Those conditions include being fully operational by October 1, 2016.
The press release also noted that Studio City is on track for a full launch on October 27, 2015.