Melco Crown’s announcement of a number of new senior management appointments late last week represents a major change in direction for the company, according to Brokerage group Bernstein.
The new appointments include Gabriel Hunterton as Property President of City of Dreams Macau and Andy Choy as Property President of Altira Macau and Mocha Clubs – the pair joining David Sisk who was appointed President of Studio City in September.
“The new management appointments … in our view signify a significant change in the operational organizational structure at Melco Crown,” said Bernstein analysts Vitaly Umansky, Zhen Gong and Yang Xie.
“Previously, under Ted Chan as COO, MPEL’s operational organizational was highly centralized with virtually all operational/marketing functions reporting into the COO. Under the new structure, it is now clear that property management is devolved directly to property Presidents.
“What was once more of a vertical management structure has become more horizontal, with property presidents taking on greater responsibility and having more control over their individual property operations.”
The appointments come in the wake of Crown Resorts’ December decision to sell around half of its remaining stake in Melco Crown back to Lawrence Ho – a likely precursor to a complete exit in the not too distant future.
In a press release, Mr Ho said that the changes to the company’s structure was, “part of the process to make Melco Crown stronger and more efficient, and to better position the company to fully exploit future growth opportunities.”
