BIZ BUZZ: Raking it in, part 2

Just last month, we told you how businessman Willy Ocier was raking it in over at listed firm Premium Leisure Corp., which is a company he chairs., despite keeping a relatively low profile in recent years.

Well, it looks like Ocier, whose reputation and track record in leisure and gaming is legendary, is about to rake it in, too, in his other business, Pacific Online Systems Corp. (POSC).

That’s because POSC was announced last week as the sole service provider of the new E-Lotto system of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office during its one-year testing and proving period.

Even if the system will be opened up to other firms after this, you can count on Ocier to make sure that his one-year headstart will be put to good use. Abangan! —Daxim L. Lucas

Okada Manila’s second wind

A bitter intracorporate feud that led to the casino takeover of Okada Manila last year by founder Kazuo Okada was recently resolved by the High Court, resulting in the Japanese businessman’s removal from the company.

Okada Manila, now firmly in the hands of Japan’s Universal Entertainment, is turning its attention to growth and expanding the brand in the Philippines, according to Kenji Sugiyama, the chief managing director in the country.

This comes amid surging growth at the $2-billion Manila Bay casino and hotel complex, which saw total revenues this year soar more than 60 percent to P24.8 billion.

Gaming revenues alone expanded by 60 percent to nearly P23 billion, Sugiyama said.

“We still see more opportunities since after COVID-19, the potential, tourism and everything is going to normalize,” he said.

This is also why the group is eager to expand in Cebu, where it is in ongoing talks to acquire Davao tycoon Dennis Uy’s unfinished Emerald Bay casino project in Mactan Island.

Sugiyama, who said he was not directly involved in negotiations, noted the due diligence process was underway. This could take several months before a final deal proceeds.

“We’ve been looking for another opportunity to expand our business so that project could be the one that fits into the next step,” he said. —Miguel R. Camus

SM hunting for unicorns

After recently participating in the $210-million funding round of Hong Kong-based travel platform Klook (which achieved unicorn status in 2018), the SM group, through SMIC SG Holdings, is nearing a deal to invest in two more foreign tech firms, both of which have made inroads into the domestic market. One is focused on artificial intelligence (AI), which has taken the world by storm, and the other offers a human resource management tool, SMIC president Frederic Dybuncio told Biz Buzz.

One of these deals will likely be sealed before the year ends, he added.

SM has set aside a budget for international tech investments via SMIC SG Holdings, but Dybuncio declined to divulge the extent of this firepower.

But as their rule of thumb, Dybuncio said SM won’t consider companies in their very early stages or are just looking for seed funding. They prefer those that already have proven capabilities, market reach and are already in their pre-IPO stage.

SMIC SG Holdings is the family’s vehicle for potential minority stakes in such foreign disruptive companies. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla INQ