GGRAsia – Singapore court dismisses a Bloomberry appeal vs GGAM

Singapore court dismisses a Bloomberry appeal vs GGAM

Feb 17, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Philippines-based casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp says the Singapore Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal from two Bloomberry subsidiaries regarding a case against Global Gaming Philippines LLC, a unit of United States-based Global Gaming Asset Management LLC (GGAM).

The court decision was issued on Tuesday (February 16), according to a filing on Wednesday to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Bloomberry developed and operates the Solaire Resort and Casino (pictured), a property that opened in the Philippine capital Manila in March 2013.

Bloomberry said two of its units had applied to the Singapore Court of Appeal about a January 2020 decision from the city-state’s High Court, on a partial award in favour of entities linked to GGAM.

The appeal to the highest court in Singapore was filed in June by Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc and Sureste Properties Inc, according to the parent company.

In the January 2020 decision, the High Court dismissed Bloomberry’s petition to “vacate and oppose the enforcement of the partial award” decision made by a Singapore-based arbitration tribunal in September 2016.

The earlier decision made by a Singapore-based arbitration tribunal in September 2019 ordered the two Bloomberry units to pay about US$296 million to Global Gaming Philippines and GGAM Netherlands BV.

Bloomberry’s case to “set aside and oppose” the enforcement of the final award was also denied by the Singapore High Court in January 2020, and “is now subject of a separate appeal …pending with the Singapore Court of Appeals,” said the casino operator in its Wednesday filing.

The case related to the termination of a management services agreement that had existed between the Bloomberry subsidiaries and the entities linked to GGAM. The latter group in turn has links to former casino executive William Weidner.

In September 2016, the same international arbitration tribunal in Singapore ruled that the Bloomberry subsidiaries were “not justified” in terminating the management services contract with the GGAM unit. The tribunal also affirmed GGAM’s ownership of – and right to sell – the 921,184,056 shares it held in Bloomberry.

The casino operator stated in its latest filing that, according to its legal advisors, “the arbitration award is not self-executing” and the partial award “may be enforced in the Philippines only through an order of a Philippine court of proper jurisdiction.”