GGRAsia – Emerald Bay topped off, backer gets fresh US$59mln pledge

Emerald Bay topped off, backer gets fresh US$59mln pledge

Dec 07, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

PH Resorts Group Holdings Ltd, the promoter of Emerald Bay, an under-construction casino resort in Cebu, in the Philippines, stated in a press release issued on Monday, that it had completed all the storeys of towers A and B at the property (pictured in an artist’s rendering).

The same day, the company said in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it had a funding pledge of just over PHP2.83 billion (US$58.9 million) from its parent Udenna Corp, a group led by Filipino entrepreneur Dennis Uy.

The funding pledge comes via PH Resorts agreeing to issue nearly 1.69-billion of common shares from its previously-unissued capital stock, at PHP1.68 per share, in favour of Udenna.

Separately, PH Resorts had said in late October it had been given permission by that country’s Securities and Exchange Commission to start raising up to PHP756 million, via a follow-on offering of as many as 450 million primary common shares at PHP1.68 per share.

The company’s third-quarter results, filed in November, confirmed that exercise had been completed successfully, raising PHP756 million gross.

In the same November filing, PH Resorts said it had enough cash coming to cover obligations in relation to its prospects as a “going concern”.

In its latest announcement about construction progress, José Angel Sueiro, the firm’s chief operating officer for gaming, stated in prepared remarks: “The topping off of towers A and B represent a significant milestone in the ongoing construction of Emerald Bay.”

Mr Sueiro added that work on the façade and interiors would follow, enabling the company to be “be on the road to open Emerald Bay on spec[ification], on time and on budget.”

The release reiterated that Emerald Bay was being constructed in two phases, with the targeted completion of the first phase by the second quarter of 2022.

When phase one is finished, the venue will house 122 gaming tables for the mass, premium-mass and junket segments respectively; and 600 electronic gaming machines. It will also have “270 hotel room bays,” added the notice.

It further stated that “the management team is pushing for a soft opening by the end of 2021, and expects to increase its gaming capacity and hotel rooms starting [in] 2022.”

Mr Uy, who is also PH Resorts’ chairman as well as leading Udenna, was quoted as saying in the release on the topping out: “Despite a very challenging year caused by the current Covid-19 pandemic, we were able to achieve many project and company milestones.”

All areas in Central Visayas – an administrative division that includes Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and adjoining Mactan – are under what the Philippine government refers to as a modified general community quarantine, which is expected to last until December 31, reported the Cebu Daily News on December 1.

Mr Uy added in his remarks quoted on Friday: “The topping off of the two towers in Emerald Bay represent a very major tangible and visible milestone in its construction.”

He added the first phase of Emerald Bay should be “ready by the time we anticipate a marked recovery in the country’s tourism and gaming sector”.