Suntrust shareholders nod shift to tourism-related biz

Dec 18, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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Philippine-listed Suntrust Home Developers Inc says the majority of its shareholders has approved amendments to the company’s articles of incorporation, allowing it to focus on tourism-related businesses.

In early November Suntrust stated in a filing it would “build and operate the hotel and areas of the casino” on the “Westside City Resorts” project, on land near Manila Bay in the Philippine capital.

In a Tuesday filing the group announced that on December 17 it had “obtained the written assent of shareholders as of … 15 November 2019, representing at least two-thirds of the outstanding capital stock,” for the “proposed amendments to the corporation’s primary and secondary purposes”.

Suntrust’s primary purpose has thus been changed from real estate development to tourism-related businesses, including but not limited to “acquiring, developing, improving and operating tourism-oriented facilities such as hotels, resorts, private clubs, leisure parks, entertainment centres, restaurants, food and beverage outlets, and other recreational facilities.”

Suntrust is a 51-percent subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Suncity Group Holdings Ltd. An October announcement by the latter firm to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had mentioned a “co-development” agreement – between Suntrust and another firm called Westside City Resorts World Inc – for the Manila casino scheme.

Suncity Group Holdings is controlled by Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, the boss of privately-held Macau junket investor Suncity Group Ltd.

According to the October filing to the Hong Kong bourse, the Westside entity and its controlling shareholder Travellers International Hotel Group Inc – a venture between Philippine conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc and Hong Kong-listed Genting Hong Kong Ltd that also runs the Resorts World Manila casino resort in the Philippines – are to lease the Westside City Resorts project site to Suntrust for “development of the main hotel casino”.

In late November, Suncity Group Holdings said it was seeking a waiver - regarding shareholder pre-approval – in order to make a US$200-million right-of-use payment to develop the casino resort in Manila.

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