Philippine casino resort developer PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc said in a Monday filing that one of its affiliate companies, Global Gateway Development Corp, had experienced “no event of default or, at the very least, no irremediable event of default,” in relation to a master lease agreement between that firm and Clark International Airport Corp.
PH Resorts told the Philippine Stock Exchange it was issuing what it termed a “clarification” of one particular news report that the group was in debt default. Several media reports had said the debt related to a real estate development known as Clark Global City.
Distinctly, PH Resorts’ unit PH Travel and Leisure Corp, has an entity called Clark Grand Leisure Corp, which is due to develop the Base Resort Hotel and Casino in Clark, Pampanga on the country’s main island, Luzon.
A PH Travel and Leisure unit, Lapulapu Leisure Inc, is responsible for the under-development Emerald Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Cebu.
PH Resorts’ said in its Monday filing that a declaration of default had indeed been issued on Friday (July 22) by a consortium of banks led by BDO Unibank Inc, as majority lender. PH Resorts said it concerned “certain obligations” of Global Gateway Development Corp towards Clark International Airport Corp.
But PH Resorts added in its clarification, that the relevant obligations were “due only on Wednesday, 27 July”.
PH Resorts further noted that the US$4 million mentioned in an article posted online with abs-cbn.com, was “not a liability to the consortium banks but an obligation of Global Gateway Development Corp to Clark International Airport Corp.”
PH Resorts’ Monday clarification filing added that Clark Global City Corp – which is a subsidiary of PH Resorts’ parent, Udenna Corp, led by Dennis Uy – would work with Global Gateway Development Corp “to immediately resolve this matter with the Clark International Airport Corp today, 25 July 2022, or before the stated deadline of 27 July 2022”.
PH Resorts further noted: “By virtue of the above, there should be no effect on the business, financial condition, and operations” of the group.
The Monday clarification stated: “To be clear, Clark Global Gateway Corp or Global Gateway Development Corp did not fail to make any interest or principal repayments with its debt to the consortium banks”.
In its first-quarter results, issued in May, PH Resorts had affirmed a “going concern” warning, due to its current liabilities as of March 31, exceeding its current assets by PHP8.05 billion (US$143.2 million at current exchange rates). The company had zero operating revenue in the first quarter.
On May 11, Philippine casino resort operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp said in a filing that it had signed an initially non-binding agreement – known as a term sheet – to invest in PH Resorts. Bloomberry has not made any follow-up filing to the exchange regarding that possibility.
“Emerald Bay will be constructed in two phases with the first phase expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023,” PH Resorts had said in its first-quarter results.
PH Resorts had said in a filing in October that the country’s gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor), had approved a request from Clark Grand Leisure to suspend a provisional gaming licence for Clark.
