PH Resorts Holdings Group Inc, the group behind the stalled Emerald Bay casino project (pictured in a file photo) at Mactan, on Cebu, in the Philippines, says it has derecognised a PHP8.75-billion (US$153.5-million) financial liability linked to the site.
The information was mentioned in PH Resorts’ second-quarter earnings filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.
In October 2023, the company restructured its outstanding indebtedness with China Banking Corp (Chinabank) – through an agreement on the sale and leaseback, referred to as “SLBB” – with option to buy back certain land and improvements of Emerald Bay’s developer entities, Lapulapu Leisure Inc (LLI), and Lapulapu Land Corp (LLC).
PH Resorts noted in its latest filing that its option to repurchase its parcels of land and “construction in progress” at Emerald Bay, under the SLBB with Chinabank, had expired on March 31, 2025.
PH Resorts stated: “In connection with this, the corresponding property plus improvements totalling PHP13.65 billion – the ‘Mactan properties’ – as well as the financial liabilities of PHP8.75 billion originating from the SLBB repurchase option were derecognised from LLI and LLC’s books.”
In May, local media reported that Chinabank planned to sell the Emerald Bay site.
The group also said that as of Friday (August 15), a previously-outstanding PHP76-million balance had been repaid on a PHP1.0-billion deposit that had been provided by an existing Philippine casino complex operator – Bloomberry Resorts Corp. That was from a time when the latter was in talks to be involved in the Emerald Bay scheme.
In March 2023, Bloomberry had terminated a non-binding agreement to invest in a unit of PH Resorts, citing “adverse due diligence findings and regulatory actions”.
For the first six months of 2025, PH Resorts reported a net loss of nearly PHP6.75 billion, “mainly due” to a PHP7.00 billion “loss on extinguishment of financial liability related to the Chinabank SLBB transaction”.
Overall, that resulted in a deficit of just under PHP11.66 billion, and a “capital deficiency” of nearly PHP5.83 billion as of June 30, said PH Resorts.
A “going concern” warning regarding the future of the group was reiterated in the latest filing.
The group also said it had received in the first quarter of 2025 advances from “related parties” totalling PHP318.6 million, of which PHP300 million came from EEI Corp – a Philippine construction and development group – through Udenna Corp, the ultimate parent of PH Resorts, controlled by Philippine entrepreneur Dennis Uy.
