China Banking Corp, a lender backed by Philippine conglomerate SM Investments Corp, is not in a hurry to sell the site of the Emerald Bay Resort and Casino, a stalled project at Mactan, Cebu, in the Philippines, reported local news outlet GMA News Online, citing the top boss of the banking institution.
Hans Sy, chairman of Chinabank, was cited by the news outlet saying there were “offers” for the Emerald Bay site (pictured in a file photo).
He was quoted saying of the Emerald Bay site: “I know our value will go up, so I said no need to rush. There are offers, we’ll negotiate, we get a price that we find that is good, then we sell.”
Chinabank had told local media in May last year of plans to sell the Emerald Bay site. The casino resort project has been controlled by Philippines-listed PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc, a unit of Udenna Corp.
At the time, Chinabank decided not to renew the repurchase deal over the site with PH Resorts.
That deal was made in October 2023, as PH Resorts had restructured its oustanding indebtedness with Chinabank through an agreement on the sale and leaseback for the site, with option to buy back certain land and improvements of Emerald Bay’s developer entities, Lapulapu Leisure Inc (LLI), and Lapulapu Land Corp (LLC). That repurchase option eventually expired on March 31, 2025, without any renewal.
Last month, PH Resorts said that its provisional gaming licence for the Emerald Bay project had been revoked by the country’s casino regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).
