GGRAsia – Emerald Bay rescuer Tiger Resort in first US$5mln payment

Emerald Bay rescuer Tiger Resort in first US$5mln payment

Apr 30, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

A subsidiary of Philippines firm PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc has received an initial “non-refundable” payment of PHP300.1-million (US$5.2-million) towards the cost of a stock subscription that would see majority ownership in the operating interest for the stalled Emerald Bay casino resort scheme (pictured in a file photo), in Cebu, pass to Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc (TRLEI).

The latter is the controlling entity of the Okada Manila casino complex in Entertainment City, Manila.

The information on the PHP300.1-million payment as part of “advances for future stock subscription” was in PH Resorts’ annual report for 2023, filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday. PH Resorts is led by Philippine entrepreneur Dennis Uy.

TRLEI announced in December – via its parent, Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp – a preliminary agreement with PH Travel and Leisure Holdings Corp – a subsidiary of PH Resorts – for the acquisition of certain interests in Lapulapu Leisure Inc (LLI), and Lapulapu Land Corp (LLC), which are subsidiaries of PH Travel and are developing Emerald Bay.

If the deal with TRLEI is finalised as expected by July this year, the “development and construction” of Emerald Bay will proceed “with the aim of opening in 2026”, said Universal Entertainment in December.

PH Resorts has been facing “material uncertainty” that casts doubt on its ability to continue as a going concern, the 2023 annual report filed on Tuesday noted. The group incurred a net loss of PHP1.81 billion and PHP801.9 million respectively, for 2023 and 2022.

PH Resorts’ current liabilities exceeded its current assets by PHP303.0 million and PHP1.97 billion respectively in 2023 and 2022.

The group has been engaging in financing and capital-raising plans to generate “sufficient cash flows” to support it in meeting debt obligations and completing its projects, the annual report mentioned.

Those steps include PH Resorts having restructured, in October 2023, its outstanding indebtedness with China Banking Corp – a Philippine lender – through an agreement on the sale, leaseback – with option to buy back – certain land and improvements of Emerald Bay’s developer entities, LLI and LLC.

“The restructuring covers the property of LLI and LLC in Lapulapu City, Mactan, Cebu, with an area of approximately 12.4 hectares, plus improvements. The restructuring also allows LLI and LLC to repay the peso-denominated bridge loans and extend the U.S. dollar-dominated bridge granted by CBC [China Banking Corp] in 2018,” PH Resorts stated in the annual report.

PH Resorts is in ongoing talks with Land Bank of the Philippines, to further extend principal and interest payments, the annual report also noted. The group’s outstanding loan balance as of December-end amounted to PHP975.0 million.

Some 2022 talks with Bloomberry Resorts Corp, another Philippines casino company, about investment in several PH Resorts casino schemes, eventually ended without a deal, although a PHP1.0-billion deposit was received from Bloomberry.

PH Resorts annual reported stated regarding that: “The group received a letter of financial support from its ultimate parent company [Udenna Corp] stating that it shall extend its full and continuing support for PH Resorts with regards to the… PHP1.0 billion deposit from Bloomberry until such time that the group is in the position to repay this amount without impairing its liquidity position.”