Hong Kong-listed casino operator Melco International Development and James Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting have bought 6,480 square meters of land in the Chinese enclave of Macau for $194 million, with the intention of building their third joint hotel and casino project in the area.

PBL-Melco plans to open its first casino project, Crown Macau, in April next year. The new land purchase is due to be settled in the first quarter of 2007. Representatives of PBL-Melco said that the scale of development had not been determined yet, but the land plot is slightly bigger than the Crown Macau site.