Japanese tycoon Okada, Antonios partner to put up gaming complex

Japanese gaming magnate Kazuo Okada: Teaming up with Antonio family AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Japanese gaming magnate Kazuo Okada is teaming up with the Century Properties Group of the Antonio family to pursue a project to build an integrated gaming and entertainment complex in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s Entertainment City, envisioned to be the Philippines’ version of the Las Vegas strip.

Industry sources said Okada’s group and CPG, plus another local partner, firmed up last Friday a framework agreement to work on the project and will soon be making an official announcement.

CPG came into the picture after Okada and the Gokongwei Group’s Robinsons Land Corp. aborted discussions on a planned gaming partnership. This was at the height of reports that an investigation had been launched on Okada in the United States for alleged violations of Philippine antibribery laws in relation to the planned $2-billion Philippine casino project.

Industry sources said CPG is set to make a disclosure on the partnership with Okada after the long holiday next week. There is a privately held third party that may also be involved in the deal, the sources added.

Shares of CPG rose by 5.2 percent to P1.82 per share in the stock market on Thursday—giving the group a market capitalization of P16.75 billion—as some investors appeared to have gotten excited over a potential deal with the Okada group. As of press time, however, spokespersons from CPG and Okada declined to comment on the matter.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc., said this prospective partnership would open up a potential gaming play for CPG, “given the market’s propensity for gaming stocks.” However, he said it would still depend on what CPG’s role will be in the partnership.

The partnership with Okada will give CPG a foothold in Entertainment City, even if limited licenses have already been awarded to four proponents. The other Entertainment City licensees are ports tycoon Enrique Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts, the Melco Crown Entertainment-Belle Corp. group and the Andrew Tan-Genting tandem. So far, only Bloomberry’s Solaire Manila is operational.

Okada has long been in search of a local partner, in part to address the foreign equity limits on land ownership.

Recently, the Japanese group found an ally in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) in putting up a legal defense against the bribery allegations over Okada’s Philippine casino project.

Okada’s Tiger Resorts, Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI), through Philippine subsidiary Eagle 1 Landholding Inc., received an official letter dated Aug. 23 from Peza stating that the local unit had complied with “all the necessary documents required for the presidential proclamation of Okada Resorts as a tourism economic zone and TRLEI as an economic tourism locator enterprise under Republic Act No. 7916” (the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995).