This event has been cancelled.
Macau's New Front Door: Hengqin Island & the GBA's Next US$100 billion Tourism Market
Speakers:
Suzanne Watkinson, Managing Director, Ambiente Properties
Matthew Ossolinski, GW Investment Consulting
"An investment in Macau—without understanding Hengqin—is an uninformed investment.” So say our speakers. But why?
China’s Hengqin Island is where the next phase of Macau’s growth story is taking place. Separated from Macau’s Cotai Strip by a narrow estuary, Hengqin is three times larger than Macau. Previously undeveloped, it has been tapped by China’s central government to help Macau’s transformation into Asia’s entertainment capital.
Hengqin Island is:
• Adding tens of thousands of hotel rooms to Macau’s limited hotel inventory
• Grounds for multibillion-dollar theme parks and resorts—adding an ‘Orlando’ to ‘Asia’s Las Vegas’
• The new transport hub for the western Pearl River Delta
• Opening China’s second largest rail station—connecting the Cotai Strip to China’s high-speed rail network and giving Macau a new front door
• Adding a Pudong-style financial district to Macau’s Grade A office mix
• Incentivising businesses to locate there through discounted tax rates, low rents, and business-friendly labour policies
• Fraught with risks—first among them: multi-year delays
Matthew and Suzanne’s talk aims to shed light on how Hengqin’s impact will be felt by Macau’s tourism, gaming and hotel properties and the wider business community.
About the speakers
Suzanne Watkinson is Managing Director of Ambiente Properties, a Macau-based company offering real estate-related services; leasing, sales, purchase, management and consulting services in all sectors. Ambiente’s clients are individuals and corporates - local and international investors, real estate and investment firms, hotel-casino operators, relocation companies and expatriates moving to Macau.
Born and raised in Asia, Suzanne is a long-time resident of Hong Kong and Macau. She had a 20-year career in the hotel and private club management field (GM of the LRC, Tanglin Club in Singapore, Dubai Country Club) before moving into real estate. In 2004 she started a portfolio in Macau of older properties in highly sought after locations that with some upgrade provided excellent leasing and capital growth opportunities. This was at the same time as the new casino concessions were issued; overseas casino operators entered the market and there was considerable influx of expatriates to build and then operate the new hotels and casinos. A game changer for Macau’s residential real estate and the genesis of Ambiente; the lack of appropriate rental properties and insufficient English-speaking support for these new arrivals and their families meant that Suzanne and her quickly expanding team were kept busy!
Suzanne is an ASAPM Certified Project Practitioner. She has an MBA (Cranfield), an MSc., a post graduate diploma in marketing and is a licensed real estate practitioner in both Hong Kong and Macau.
Matthew Ossolinski is the founder of Ossolinski Holdings, a firm that invests in Macau casino companies. He is also the CEO of GW Investment Consulting, which provides advisory and business brokering services to international corporate investors on Macau’s neighbouring Hengqin Island.
Matthew is a frequent speaker about Macau and Hengqin and appears regularly in international media such as Reuters, Forbes, and CNBC.
He has previously led consulting and investment projects in the US, UK, Kuwait, Greece, Kazakhstan, Chile, The Bahamas, Vietnam, Brunei, the Netherlands, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and the Philippines. He has visited 92 countries and believes Macau and Hengqin present one of the most dynamic business opportunities in the world today.
Born in Boston, USA, Matthew is a graduate of The Williston Northampton School and Babson College.
Ticket includes a light sandwich lunch.
Pricing
- Member: HK$300
- Non-Member: HK$400
- Y-Network Member: HK$200
- Start-up Member: HK$200
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