Universal Entertainment Corp, the parent of the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippine capital, said the transfer of shares of Asiabest Group International Inc, an existing Philippine-listed company, was completed on Friday (August 8).
The shares were transferred by a unit of Universal Entertainment, Hong Kong-registered Tiger Resort Asia Ltd, to privately-owned real estate developer PremiumLands Corp, for a consideration of PHP510.4 million (US$9.0 million currently).
Philippines-based Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI) is responsible for the operations of Okada Manila. In early 2019, Tiger Resort Asia completed a tender offer for Asiabest Group, with the intent of listing TRLEI on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The plan to sell Asiabest Group’s shares had been announced in December last year. Tiger Resort Asia controlled 66.67 percent of Asiabest Group.
“Considering that the financial performance of Okada Manila, the integrated resort operated by TRLEI, has been growing steadily and performing well in the past years, Tiger Resort Asia have judged that the necessity of Asiabest for TRLEI to be listed no longer exists,” stated Universal Entertainment at the time.
In its latest announcement, the parent stated: “The view of Universal Entertainment is that the impact of this matter on its consolidated business results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025 is minute.”
Last week Universal Entertainment reported a net loss of JPY9.87 billion for the six months to June 30, on net sales of JPY62.18 billion, down 1.2 percent from a year ago.
The group’s integrated resort business posted net sales of JPY34.64 billion in the January to June period, down 16.9 percent from a year earlier. Adjusted segmental earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at nearly JPY7.30 billion for the reporting period, a decline of 37.7 percent from a year earlier.
In July, Fitch Ratings Inc revised the rating outlook for Universal Entertainment to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’. The rating agency said the step reflected “the absence of a clear near-term recovery path in its [the parent’s] integrated resort (IR) segment”, as well as Universal Entertainment’s “unexpectedly weak financial results in 2024”.
