GGRAsia – PhilWeb asset sale to cover costs, on games permit hope

PhilWeb asset sale to cover costs, on games permit hope

Jan 03, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

PhilWeb Corp, a Philippines-based firm seeking a new licence to operate its legacy e-Games parlours in that country, says it has raised PHP140 million (US$2.81million) by selling its investment in a Germany-based digital entertainment business.

In a filing dated December 31 and published on Tuesday on the Philippine Stock Exchange website, PhilWeb stated it had sold an interest in Acentic GmbH – a firm in Cologne specialising in hotel-room digital entertainment – to another German company.

PhilWeb said it received US$750,000, plus just over EUR1.97 million (US$2.06 million), the latter sum “in full settlement of its loan receivables” due from Acentic.

PhilWeb said the cash proceeds equivalent to PHP140 million “will be utilised by the company to cover its overhead while it awaits the reissuance of its licence from Pagcor”. That was a reference to the country’s regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp, also known as Pagcor.

PhilWeb had said in a December 27 filing – quoting a December 12 letter from Pagcor’s head, Andrea Domingo – that the regulator was “expediting the procurement process” for a new licence for the operation of e-Games parlours in that country.

In early August, Pagcor had said PhilWeb’s previous e-Games operating licence would not be renewed. PhilWeb had used the old licence to run a network of 286 domestic gaming parlours offering Internet-delivered games, according to company information.