GGRAsia – Pixel Companyz, Partouche team up for Japan IR project

Pixel Companyz, Partouche team up for Japan IR project

Aug 14, 2020 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Tokyo-listed Pixel Companyz Inc announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement with French casino operator Groupe Partouche SA for the latter company to be part of a consortium – led by Pixel Companyz – intending to bid for a casino resort licence in Japan.

Friday’s announcement did not mention where in Japan the consortium aims to develop an integrated resort (IR), as casino complexes are known in that country.

Yokohama and the prefecture of Osaka, the latter in the Kansai region, are leading contenders to host one of up to three casino resorts to be permitted in Japan in a first phase of liberalisation. Other areas of Japan interested in hosting an IR include the prefectures of Nagasaki and Wakayama.

Pixel Companyz, founded in 1986, is a Japan-based company engaged in renewable energy, financial technology and gaming businesses. Partouche, listed on Euronext in Paris, was founded in 1973, operates an aggregate of 42 casinos – most of them in France – and employs almost 4,000 people.

“Pixel Companyz and Groupe Partouche will work together with their consortium partners to plan, develop and operate a premier integrated resort in Japan,” said the Japanese company in the release. “The consortium aims to develop an IR unique to Japan that will highlight the tourism assets, food culture, brands and the hospitable culture that the country has to offer,” it added.

U.S.-based casino operator MGM Resorts International had announced previously a partnership with Japanese financial services group Orix Corp for the development of a casino resort in the Japanese city of Osaka. MGM Resorts is to have a minority stake – of up to 45 percent – in a mooted resort scheme in Japan, according to its chief executive.

Groupe Partouche announced last week that it had terminated in May the collaboration with Hong Kong-listed firm Oshidori International Holdings Ltd in relation to efforts to develop a casino resort scheme in the Japanese prefecture of Nagasaki.

In Friday’s announcement, Pixel Companyz also said it had established what it termed a “capital and business alliance” agreement with an entity called “TTL Resorts”, the latter described as a firm with “wide-ranging experience in data analysis and investment aspects of the gaming industry”.

In 2016, Pixel Companyz formed a joint venture with Hong Kong-listed casino electronic games maker Paradise Entertainment Ltd, under the brand LT Game Japan, to focus on the development of slot machines.

A member of the Japanese government said last week that the national authorities were reviewing the possibility of introducing changes to the timetable for licensing casino resorts in the country, because of Covid-19.