INTENSE speculation surrounding the identity of the big foreign investor, who is reportedly looking to invest heavily in Cyprus in a large tourism project, has predominantly focused on the mysterious US billionaire, Sheldon Adelson.
According to government sources, Adelson was identified as the businessman who visited the presidential palace on Thursday to discuss his plans with President Demetris Christofias and Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias.
Speaking after the meeting, Kazamias revealed that the project concerned “a big building complex” and could prove to be a “much bigger investment than the Qatar-Cyprus hotel complex in Nicosia.”
Reports have suggested that the proposed building complex will include a luxurious hotel and a casino, while Adelson has a reputation as one of the biggest casino moguls in the US.
An apparently controversial figure in the US, Adelson has traditionally adopted a low-key profile in his approach, despite active involvement in business and a behind-the-scenes influence in politics.
The now 78-year-old Adelson, with an estimated net worth of over €16.7 billion is currently ranked 8th and 16th in Forbes’ US and global rich lists.
He owns the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Las Vegas, while he has also set up the Sands Macau Casino in China’s special administrative region of Macau.
Adelson is regarded as one of the main driving forces behind the expansion of the Las Vegas casino circuit in the nineties and for the similar development in Asia in recent years.
He was the first American developer to build a casino in the Chinese south-eastern coast while his Venetian Macau Limited developer company, which looks to build additional multiple casino hotel resorts in the area has been crucial to the rise of Macau’s tourist Cotai Strip.
The billionaire has also invested elsewhere in Asia, being the first person to secure a casino license in Singapore and subsequently building the Marina Bay Sands casino hotel resort for an estimated cost of €2.8 billion.
The casino mogul started out in the sixties as a mortgage broker, an investment advisor and as a financial consultant for companies wishing to start selling shares on the stock market.
He is notorious for having a knack for sensing investment opportunities and for having an eye for potential booming markets.
During the seventies, Adelson established the first computer show, while his COMDEX Company, established in 1979, coincided with the booming industry of personal computers as promoted by IBM and Apple.
He entered the casino business in the late eighties with the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, and by registering his Las Vegas Sands Corporation on the New York stock exchange in 2004, Adelson was able to propel his status to the third richest man in the US in 2008.
A son of a Jewish immigrant cab driver, Adelson, has been vocal about his Zionist and right wing beliefs and has been outspoken about his disapproval of the efforts for the Israeli – Palestinian peace talks.
He is a close personal friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and owns the free daily newspaper Israel HaYom, which strongly supports Netanyahu’s Likud party.
He is a member of right wing Zionist institutions such as the Zionist Organisation of America, One Jerusalem and the highly influential American Israel public affairs committee lobby.
He founded the think tank Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies, while he has financially backed American right-wing political action committees such as Freedom’s Watch and American Solutions.
A major financial contributor of the Republican Party and the 2004 George W. Bush presidential campaign, Adelson has also significantly backed the candidacy of Newt Gingrich for the Republican Party nomination for the 2012 US presidential elections.
