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New Zealand's Sky City Casino Chief is No Gambler

"The 42-year-old, who has been involved with Sky City since before the Sky Tower appeared on the Auckland landscape, claims not to be a gambler.

"…This from a man who cut his teeth at Craig Heatley's high-flying investment company Rainbow Corporation in the over-hyped boom days of 1986-87 followed by the post-crash fallout of the following year.

"`There are a few people in property who you might describe as gamblers, but I had a very salutary set of experiences back in the 1980s and that taught me some lessons,' he says. `I do take things pretty carefully and I wouldn't characterise myself, as a consequence, as a big risk-taker.'

"…`My business now is all about assessing and managing risk, and I think I do that now a great deal better than I did then.'

"Some believe Davies' risk assessment radar let him down last year when Sky City bought into debt-laden cinema and property business Force Corporation.

"Although he maintains that the Force business is a logical expansion for Sky City, as Force chairman Davies has overseen a $12 million writeoff of the company's disastrous foray into the Argentine cinema business after that country's economy hit the wall.

"…But since the writeoff, Force's New Zealand cinema operations are on track to add value to the Sky business, Davies says.

"Analysts' eyebrows have been raised over other Sky investments, made as the company seeks to diversify from its cash-cow monopoly Auckland casino.

"The 19-month-old Sky Alpine Queenstown casino, while only a small component of the group's overall business, has performed below expectation.

"…In Hamilton, the company will open its joint-venture Sky Riverside casino in September.

"Will Hamilton be another disappointment like Queenstown?

"…Davies chuckles. `Gee, I hope not is the answer. We've learned some lessons out of Queenstown and we've applied those to our planning in Hamilton. It's a very different marketplace and the customer base will be quite different, so we don't think so.'

"Back in Auckland, Sky is building a $60 million convention centre across the road from the casino, despite the city council's refusal to help with finance.

"…Sky is also investigating a joint-venture hotel project at Auckland Airport.

"While the gambler types in property development often experience huge successes followed by dramatic failures, Davies' career has involved riding the crest of a wave which has swamped others…"

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