Philippine casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp announced on Monday plans to sell its Jeju Sun hotel casino operation on South Korea’s holiday island of Jeju.
The firm said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that its South Korean indirect subsidiary, Golden & Luxury Co Ltd, had signed a share purchase agreement under which it would spin off – via “demerger” – the Jeju casino business into a separate new company.
It added that the new company would then be sold to an entity called Gangwon Blue Mountain Co Ltd.
No further details were included in the release about the buyer, except that it had made a “down payment of KRW500.0 million [US$348,820]” related to the deal.
Bloomberry added that “the completion of the transaction and payment of the purchase price shall be conditioned upon completion of the demerger, due diligence and regulatory approvals”.
The “purchase price” was not disclosed in the filing. It was also not immediately clear whether the deal was only for the casino operation or for the entire Jeju Sun complex, including its non-gaming facilities.
Bloomberry acquired the casino property (pictured in a file photo) in Jeju in 2015. It was then branded “T.H.E Hotel” and “LVegas Casino”. Upon takeover of operations by Bloomberry, it was rebranded as “Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino”.
The complex consists of a 202-room hotel and 2,000 square metres (21,528 sq feet) of gaming space, with 36 tables and 20 electronic gaming machines, according to information previously disclosed by Bloomberry.
The property has four outlets offering food and drink.
Jeju Sun’s performance over the years has been lacklustre. It recorded a net loss of PHP64.2 million (US$1.1 million) in the second quarter of this year, compared with a net loss of PHP116.9 million a year earlier.
The parent firm had previously indicated an intention to offload its South Korean casino business.
Bloomberry reported a net loss of nearly PHP1.41 billion for the three months to 30 June, compared with a net profit of PHP1.34 billion in the prior-year period, according to a filing in August.
The group’s first and flagship property is Solaire Resort & Casino at Entertainment City in the Philippine capital. In May last year, the group launched its US$1.0-billion Solaire Resort North complex in Quezon City, outside Metro Manila.
