GGRAsia – Alliance affirms Newport World shakeup a year-long plan

Alliance affirms Newport World shakeup a year-long plan

Jun 11, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

A change in senior leadership at Philippines casino and hotel complex Newport World Resorts in Manila (pictured) “is due to the conclusion of the year-long transition plan for Travellers International Hotel Group Inc… since Alliance Global Group Inc’s assumption of full ownership of the latter on May 30, 2023”.

The point was reiterated in a Monday filing by Alliance Global to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The filing was responding to a story by Philippine news outlet Bilyonaryo.com on Friday, which said – without further context – that a comment during a ‘town hall’ meeting by Kevin Tan, chief executive of Alliance Global, “hinted at financial misconduct” being linked to the departure of the Travellers’ executives.

Mr Tan was reported as saying: “Anyone who crosses the line, whether long serving or new, regardless of their position, will face consequences for wrongdoing.”

The story did not clarify to whom that comment might be referring.

A week ago veteran casino executive Hakan Dagtas confirmed to GGRAsia that he had resigned on June 1 as chief operating officer at Newport World Resorts “for personal reasons”.

Travellers International had said in June 4 statement that also departing was Bernard Than, who had been chief financial officer at Newport World.

That announcement had added that former Newport World president and CEO Kingson Sian had “officially retired from the company” after being at the helm of the firm “since it started 16 years ago as the country’s first integrated resort developer”.

In Monday’s filing, Alliance Global stated: “Mr Sian had initially deferred his planned retirement in 2022 to lead the company through the transition period.”

The firm added: “The positions of Mr Dagtas and Mr Than, who were members of Travellers International’s management team with Alliance Global’s former venture partner, are part of the transition plan, paving the way to Alliance Global’s management team to helm Travellers International moving forward.”

The company also said that the statements attributed to Mr Tan in the Bilyonaryo.com article “only articulate the policy implemented across the Alliance Global group, underscoring the significance of integrity among its ranks.”

In mid-May, Travellers International reported that its first-quarter consolidated net profit attributable to the owners declined about 96 percent year-on-year to PHP8 million (US$136,700 currently), compared to PHP214 million in the prior-year quarter.

Newport World Resorts – next door to Manila International Airport – was formerly known as Resorts World Manila. It opened in 2009 as a venture between Philippine conglomerate Alliance Global and the then Genting Hong Kong Ltd, an operator of casino cruise ships, via the Travellers International entity.

Genting Hong Kong entered liquidation in January 2022. A July 2022 statement said that Resorts World Manila was changing name to Newport World Resorts.

In May last year it was announced that Alliance Global had agreed to acquire the stake of the now-defunct Genting Hong Kong in Newport World Resorts.