Macau Billionaire Heiress Pansy Ho Purchases $115M Home, as MGM China Stakeholder Fortune Grows

Posted on: July 28, 2018, 10:00h. 

Last updated on: July 27, 2018, 06:28h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Macau billionaire Pansy Ho has reportedly purchased a home in Hong Kong for HK $900 million (US$115 million). The property located at 28 Gough Hill Road spans 5,579 square feet, and is located in the city’s ultra-ritzy Peak district.

The purchase price equates to a whopping $20,500 per square foot of indoor living space. The transaction makes it the second most expensive private home in all of Asia.

“The supply of ultra-luxury houses in such prime locations is few and far between, so when buyers see what they like, they jump,” Hong Kong realtor Michael So told the South China Morning Post.

“The Peak is still the prime location where wealthy people like to buy houses, not just the local tycoons but also investors from mainland China,” Hong Kong real estate expert Denis Ma added. “The price is in line with other properties sold on The Peak, where houses very rarely come on the market.”

The oldest daughter of Stanley Ho and second wife Lam King Yin’s children, Pansy is the executive chairperson of Shun Tak, the parent company to SJM Holdings, the casino operator that held a gambling monopoly in Macau for decades. She is additionally the co-chairperson and executive director of MGM China Holdings, the Asian subsidiary of MGM Resorts.

She owns a roughly 26 percent stake in MGM China. The company opened its $3.4 billion integrated casino resort on the Cotai Strip in February, its second property in Macau.

Forbes estimates that Pansy, 55, is worth nearly $6 billion.

Ho Empire

The Ho dynasty is worth many billions of dollars, as family patriarch Stanley transformed Macau from a sleepy colony into the world’s richest gambling hub free of competition. Shun Tak lost its monopoly soon after the territory was returned from Portugal to Chinese rule in 1990, and the People’s Republic decided to welcome commercial operators.

But the “outside” competition also came by way of inside family. Pansy acquired a substantial stake in MGM China, and her youngest brother Lawrence Ho formed Melco Resorts.

Outdoing Brother

Pansy isn’t the only Ho who’s recently made a rather large real estate purchase.

In March 2017, Lawrence shelled out more than $65.1 million for the top-floor unit of 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The 85-floor skyscraper, the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, features 104 units.

Ho’s New York City pad is approximately 8,000 square feet, meaning he got it on the cheap compared to his sister at just $8,137 per square foot.

Station Casinos CEO Frank Fertitta plopped down $70 million for a Manhattan penthouse soon after Lawrence. His duplex is located at 520 Park Avenue.