PH Resorts stocks dive as Okada drops casino deal
PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. has again failed to sell the $300-million Emerald Bay project in Cebu province after the operator of Okada Manila aborted the deal that would have finally nudged the project toward completion.
In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, the gaming property arm of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy said subsidiary PH Travel and Leisure Holdings Corp. had received a letter from Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI) officially terminating the December 2023 agreement.
The deal would have allowed TRLEI to acquire a majority ownership stake in PH Travel subsidiaries LapuLapu Leisure Inc. and Lapulapu Land Corp., operators of the Mactan casino project that began construction in 2017.
PH Resorts president Raymundo Martin Escalona said the termination opened opportunities to engage with “other parties that have already expressed their keen interest in the Emerald Bay project.”
“We assure our shareholders and stakeholders, however, that the company’s management is already working toward another transaction, be it an acquisition, joint venture, or otherwise, that will ensure the completion of the Emerald Bay project,” he said.
Investors did not react positively to the deal termination as PH Resorts’ share price plunged by nearly 20 percent to P0.58 each on Tuesday.
The Uy-led company announced in December that Japan-based Universal Group, which operates Okada Manila through TRLEI, would acquire a majority stake in the casino bay project.
TRLEI is the third investor to drop out after Cebu-based developer AppleOne Properties Inc. and tycoon Enrique Razon Jr.’s Bloomberry Resorts Corp. Alfred Benjamin Garcia, research head at stock brokerage house AP Securities Inc., said PH Resorts may have trouble securing another partner “unless it lowers its asking price.”
“Clearly, there is something undesirable in [PH Resort’s] books, as this is the third bail-out attempt to fall through,” Garcia said in a Viber message.
The integrated casino resort project includes a five-star hotel, two 15-story towers with 642 rooms, four pools, 18 food and beverage outlets, retail spaces, conference and exhibition facilities and a gaming floor with at least 700 electronic gaming machines and more than 140 tables.
