Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asian Coast Development Ltd., the Vancouver-based developer building a casino resort in Vietnam, plans to raise as much as $1 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering to fund the project.

Asian Coast, part owned by Harbinger Capital Partners, plans to raise funds from both the equity and debt markets for the $4.2 billion, five-hotel project, Chairman Michael Aymong said in an interview in Singapore on Sept. 9. He disclosed the possible IPO target in a separate interview yesterday.

Hotel and casino operators are tapping growing wealth in Asia, home of the world's two fastest-growing major economies. U.S. gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Corp. is investing at least $10 billion building casinos in Singapore and Macau, which in 2006 overtook the Las Vegas Strip as the world's biggest gaming hub. Vietnam's economy grew 8.5 percent last year, the fastest pace since 1996.

``We're looking toward the Hong Kong stock exchange in the next two years,'' said Aymong. ``The people of Hong Kong know the casino industry because of Macau and they have seen the economic growth of the region and understand it.'' The share sale may take place in the next two years, he said.

Asian Coast is also seeking to invest in distressed gambling assets and is looking at two opportunities in Las Vegas, he said, declining to identify them.

Aymong and Chief Executive Officer David Subotic together own 40 percent of Asian Coast. New York-based Harbinger Capital, run by former Barclays Capital trader Philip Falcone, is the second-biggest shareholder with 26 percent.

Three of Macau's six casino operators, including billionaire Stanley Ho's SJM Holdings Ltd., are listed or have a parent listed in Hong Kong. Asia's third-biggest stock market also features NagaCorp Ltd., the monopoly casino operator in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

The first phase of Asian Coast's project, which will include two hotels, will cost about $1.8 billion and is scheduled to be finished in 2010, Subotic said.

Aymong in May said the company received a license from the Vietnamese government to build the Ho Tram Strip complex near Ho Chi Minh City, after three years of negotiations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelvin Wong in Hong Kong at kwong40@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: September 10, 2008 22:45 EDT