UK: Project Update: London Paramount

With London Paramount, a multi-billion entertainment resort is planned to be developed in the British county of Kent, including a film-based theme park. Most recently, we have been reporting about the huge public consent that the project had received in surveys (c.f. EAP news from July 13^th, 2015).

In October 2015, the project’s developer London Resorts Company Holdings Ltd. (LRCH) announced that the Chinese firm SinoFortone would invest an initial sum of 100 million British Pound into the approx. 3.2 billion Pound project, after having signed a Memorandum of Understanding in August 2015. Still in mid-2016, London Paramount’s former CEO David Testa announced that the required funds would be in place. After the original master plan had seen some changes, a new, fifth consultation round had been announced to inform the public about the project’s updates. The submission of the building application had been planned for 2017, already two years later than previously scheduled.

In February this year, the project has reappeared when David Testa’s resignation became public. Following his resignation, LRCH and its parent company Kuwaiti European Holding Group (KEH) announced the reshuffle of several senior management positions to push the project further. Humphrey Percy, group CEO, has been named new CEO of the London Resort Company Holdings. “[…] We are now entering a new exciting phase of the project as we carry out our final stage of consultation prior to submitting our development consent order,” said Percy. Mike Morrison, who previously worked for Morgan Stanley and WestLB AG, has taken over the responsibility as the company’s CFO and Kevin Doyle, who has worked on the project from the start, has been appointed to coordinator of the development consent order. Following current media reports, the opening of London Paramount will not take place earlier than 2020. (eap)