GGRAsia – Alliance Global acquires remaining stake in Newport op

Alliance Global acquires remaining stake in Newport op

May 31, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Philippine conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc says it has agreed to acquire the stake of now-defunct Genting Hong Kong Ltd in the operator of Newport World Resorts (pictured), a Philippine casino and leisure complex in the capital Manila.

The property is owned and managed by Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. Prior to the deal now announced, Alliance Global already had a 60-percent stake in Travellers International, according to its latest quarterly report.

Alliance Global said in a filing on Tuesday to the Philippine Stock Exchange that its subsidiary Newport World Resorts Properties Inc had “entered into a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of the shares” in Travellers International owned by three entities linked to Genting Hong Kong.

“Upon completion of the foregoing transactions, Genting Hong Kong will cease to hold a stake” in Travellers International, stated the filing.

It did not disclose any financial details of the agreement.

Newport World Resorts chief operating officer Hakan Dagtas had recently confirmed to GGRAsia that Alliance Global was in the process of acquiring Genting Hong Kong’s stake in Travellers International. He added at the time that the deal was awaiting regulatory approvals, and was expected to be concluded by the end of the current quarter.

From the time of its launch in 2009, Newport World Resorts had been known as Resorts World Manila, with Genting Hong Kong having been a founding partner. The site was renamed in July last year as Newport World Resorts.

‘Resorts World’ is a branding that has been commonly used by casino venues across the world that are run by the Genting marque, from Malaysia to Singapore, the United Kingdom or the United States.

Genting Hong Kong – formerly specialising in casino cruise ship operations – entered liquidation in January 2022, and its own shares have been delisted in mid-May from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Travellers International’s first-quarter 2023 overall revenues rose 62.9 percent year-on-year, to PHP7.90 billion (US$140.0 million). First-quarter gross gaming revenue increased by 36.2 percent during the period, to just above PHP8.89 billion, said a filing by Alliance Global earlier this month.