Allen & Overy (A&O) and Norton Rose have advised on a $2bn (£1.3bn) debt refinancing for MGM China Holdings, the Macau arm of Las Vegas casino operator MGM Resorts International.

The refinancing for the company, which owns MGM Grand Paradise in Macau, includes a $550m (£346m) term loan and a revolving credit facility of $1.45bn (£913m). The Cayman islands-incorporated business is now planning to build a new resort in the region.

Norton Rose represented MGM, with banking and finance partner Peter Haslam leading the team, while A&O acted for the lenders – which included Bank of China, Bank of America, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, RBS and Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui – with banking partner Roger Lui in the lead role.

Offshore law firms Walkers and Maples and Calder were also involved, acting for MGM and the lenders respectively on Cayman law. Hong Kong partner John Trehey headed up the Maples team.

"Macau is moving into another phase of development, with the current concessionaires now starting to build second properties," said Lui. "As a result, they are now tapping into a mixture of loans, and equity and debt capital markets to raise funds which, together with their cashflows, will fund their additional investments."

Macau's casino arena is currently dominated by a handful of big brands, which were invited to develop Vegas-style casino resorts at the turn of the century. This is the second round of refinancing for many of the concessionaires, following the listing of holding companies and long term plans to expand in Macau.

In 2010, A&O acted for the lenders on China Grand Paradise's first refinancing deal. Holding company MGM China Holdings subsequently listed in Hong Kong. Other casino giants to refinance, list and then refinance again to fund new projects include China Sands, which now has two casino resorts in the region.