GGRAsia – Philippines’ Belle reorganises gaming assets

Philippines’ Belle reorganises gaming assets

Jun 02, 2014 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Philippine-listed Belle Corp announced on Monday it will reorganise its gaming assets under a separate listed entity.

The board of directors of Belle Corp approved on Monday morning a corporate re-organisation plan, under which the company will inject its 100 percent ownership of Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc and its shares representing 34.5 percent of online lottery system provider Pacific Online Systems Corp into Sinophil Corp, a subsidiary of Belle that is already listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Premium Leisure and Amusement is part of the consortium that holds a gaming licence for casino resort City of Dreams Manila. The other partner is Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp, a subsidiary of Macau-based Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.

Belle said in a statement it would retain direct ownership of the land and building of City of Dreams Manila, for which it will continue to receive rental income.

The US$1.2-billion casino resort will feature up to approximately 365 gaming tables, 1,680 slot machines and 1,680 electronic table games upon opening. The property is scheduled to open next October in Manila’s Entertainment City. It will be operated by Melco Crown Philippines.

Belle’s reorganisation is forecast to be completed on or about August 2014.

The company will meanwhile realign its operations primarily on real estate development. It will aacquire the non-gaming related assets of Sinophil.

Belle is controlled by SM Group, headed by Henry Sy, patriarch of the Philippines’ richest family.