GGRAsia – Belle to get US$121 mln from Premium Leisure share sale

Belle to get US$121 mln from Premium Leisure share sale

Sep 29, 2014 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Philippine casino investor Belle Corp announced on Monday the unitary price for the 3.26 billion shares in Premium Leisure Corp that the firm is selling – PHP1.65 (US$0.02).

Belle has likewise agreed to sell up to 490 million additional shares of Premium Leisure for the over-allotment option, the company said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange. The price will be the same.

The overall shares equal to almost 12 percent of Premium Leisure’s outstanding shares. The sale will reduce Belle’s stake in the firm to slightly above 77 percent, according to previous filings.

The total gross proceeds from the offer, before the exercise of the over-allotment option, are estimated at US$121 million, Belle’s Monday filing stated.

Belle is controlled by SM Group, headed by Henry Sy, patriarch of what according to Forbes magazine is the Philippines’ richest family.

The firm has entered into a placing agreement with CLSA Ltd, Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd and Macquarie Capital (Singapore) Pte Ltd to act as the joint global bookrunners for the sale, with CLSA likewise acting as the sole global coordinator.

The operation is anticipated to be completed by the end of this week.

Belle recently reorganised its gaming assets, transferring its 100 percent stake in Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc and its 34.5 percent interest in Pacific Online Systems Corp to Philippine-listed Premium Leisure, formerly known as Sinophil Corp.

Premium Leisure and Amusement is part of the consortium that holds the gaming licence for casino resort City of Dreams Manila. The other partner is Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp, a subsidiary of Macau-based Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.

Premium Leisure earlier this month announced it would adopt a dividend policy of “paying at least 80 percent of [the] previous year’s unrestricted retained earnings”. The high dividend payout policy, fuelled by eventual payments from its participation in the City of Dreams Manila casino resort is likely one of the main selling points of the share sale announced by Belle.