Udenna ready to list casino resorts in Philippines

Jun 26, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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Udenna Corp – a privately-held conglomerate led by Filipino entrepreneur Dennis Uy – will use a subsidiary as a vehicle to list its tourism ventures, including a casino resort in Cebu and one in Pampanga province.

The subsidiary – Philippine Stock Exchange-listed Philippine H2O Ventures Corp – issued a written statement after its annual general meeting on Monday, saying its shareholders agreed it should be renamed PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. The newly-named entity will focus on hotels, gaming and entertainment as its main businesses.

The announcement to the Philippine bourse said PH Resorts would run a casino resort project on Mactan island, in the central Philippine province of Cebu, and another at what the filing termed “Clark Global City” – a development within the Clark Freeport Zone – in the northern province of Pampanga.

Monday’s shareholder meeting also saw Udenna acquire 62 percent of PH Resorts. Mr Uy was elected chairman of the group and a motion was approved to increase the authorised capital of the company to PHP8 billion (US$149.8 million) from PHP500 million.

“PH Resorts will allow the Udenna Group to take advantage of the many opportunities in the tourism sector, create stronger synergies among our existing businesses and make more meaningful contributions to the Philippine economy,” Mr Uy was quoted in the press release from H2O Ventures Corp as saying after the shareholder meeting.

Work on The Emerald Resort and Casino in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu province began in July last year. Udenna has said it will invest about US$341 million in the development taking shape on a 12.5-hectare (31-acre) beachfront property, 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) from Cebu’s international airport. A further US$200 million is the likely expenditure on the second casino, at Clark Freeport.

Udenna was incorporated in 2002 and has business interests in: petroleum and oil via Phoenix Petroleum; shipping and logistics through Chelsea Logistics and 2GO; real estate through Udenna Development; education through Enderun Colleges; and convenience stores through FamilyMart, among others.

According to a story published in May this year by Bloomberg, Mr Uy is a supporter of the nation’s leader, President Rodrigo Duterte.

Philippine H2O Ventures said in a follow up filing on Tuesday that the listed entity had not yet completed the asset injection; involving an aggregate of four projects, including a hotel in Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao, Mr Duterte’s power base; and one on Bohol, an island province.

(Updated 9.20am June 27)

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