Star Cruises, Alliance to team up on casinos

HONG KONG/MANILA (Reuters) - Star Cruises plans to team up with Alliance Global Group Inc to develop hotels and casinos in the Philippines, spending at least $1 billion on a set of projects the company hopes will expand its reach into a relatively untapped Asian gaming arena.

The cruise and gaming operator said in a statement on Wednesday it had agreed to buy half of Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, a unit of Alliance, for $335 million as part of the deal.

The unit has applied for a provisional gaming licence, with an eye to developing hotel and gambling resorts at Manila Bay and near the airport. Alliance said the project at Manila Bay alone was worth $1 billion.

Singapore-listed shares in Star Cruises rose as much as 15.4 percent to S$0.225 before paring gains to end up 10.3 percent, outperforming a 2.6 percent rise in the Straits Times Index .FTSTI Alliance Global was up 3.9 percent in light trade.

Multinationals from the Las Vegas Sands to MGM Mirage are investing billions in Asian casino projects, particularly in the former Portuguese enclave of Macau, hoping to draw big-spending Chinese tourists.

Macau, which has boomed since the Chinese territory scrapped a decades-old monopoly on gambling and opened to foreign investment, has overtaken Las Vegas in annual gambling revenue, and has inspired Singapore to abolish its own casino ban.

Asian gaming operators such as Star Cruises are keen not to be left behind.

Star Cruises and sister company Genting International, both units of Malaysian casino operator Genting Bhd , won the right to build and operate Singapore's second casino resort in 2005.

The firm and would-be partner Alliance -- a Philippine conglomerate with interests in fast food, liquor and property development -- have entered into an agreement to build, own and operate a hotel and casino complex to be located in the Philippines' Newport City, adjacent to Manila's airport.

In addition, Star Cruises plans to form a joint venture with Travellers -- in which Star plans to own 40 percent -- to develop an integrated leisure project in Pagcor City, which is nestled up against Manila Bay.

The Pagcor City project would include a theme park, theaters, amusement and cultural centers, retail and gaming centers and hotels with a minimum of 1,000 rooms. (Reporting by Edwin Chan and Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Anshuman Daga)

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