Okada Manila listing vehicle appoints interim president

Mar 26, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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The corporate vehicle for the backdoor listing of equity in the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippines has appointed an interim president. Asiabest Group International Inc told the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday it had appointed Takashi Oya as company president, replacing Kenji Sugiyama, who had resigned.

Asiabest told the commission that Mr Oya had been appointed to serve as president until Mr Sugiyama’s successor was “duly elected and qualified”. The firm added in a separate statement that Mr Sugiyama’s departure was related with a “realignment of the corporate structure of the group.”

Mr Oya is the president of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc. Asiabest said Mr Oya served as a senior analyst for Kankatsu Securities Co Ltd between 1988 and 1999, a director of Deutsche Securities Co Ltd from 1999 to 2007, was president of Fields Corp from 2007 to 2016, the vice-chairman of Fields Corp from 2016 to 2017 and president of Fields Research Institute from 2017 to 2018.

Tiger Resort is the promoter of the Okada Manila casino resort (pictured in a file photo), and a subsidiary of Tiger Resort Asia Ltd – a Hong Kong-listed company controlled by Japanese gaming company Universal Entertainment Corp.

Japan-based Universal Entertainment said last month that Tiger Resort Asia had completed the purchase of 66.6 percent of Asiabest. Now, with the majority of Manila-listed Asiabest under its control, Universal Entertainment intends to use it as the vehicle for the backdoor listing of equity in the Okada Manila casino resort.

The Okada Manila is named after the founder of Universal Entertainment, Kazuo Okada, who is now estranged from the company he founded. A multifaceted legal case is currently before officials in several jurisdictions as Mr Okada seeks to regain control of his business empire.

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