Manila Bay casino developer gets additional $38-M loan

MANILA, Philippines — Listed Suntrust Resort Holdings Inc. will secure a fresh $38-million loan from its parent company to bankroll the development of Entertainment City’s fourth casino hotel.

In a stock exchange filing on Monday, Suntrust said its board of directors had approved the 10-year loan agreement with Hong Kong-based LET Group Holdings Ltd. (formerly Suncity Group Holdings).

The developer said the loan was “not expected to have any adverse effect on the business, operations, and financial condition of the company, as it is expected to redound to the benefit of the company.”

This is in addition to a P25-billion loan Suntrust secured from Sy-led China Banking Corp. to partially fund the completion of the project along Manila Bay.

It also signed a $6-million loan agreement with Major Success Group Ltd., the holding company of the LET Group, in May 2023.

READ: Suntrust pushes 2025 launch of fourth casino complex

Suntrust is currently developing the $1-billion Westside City Resorts, another five-star hotel and casino that will rise alongside Solaire Resort and Casino, City of Dreams Manila, and Okada Manila within Entertainment City in Parañaque.

It signed in 2020 an agreement with tycoon Megawide Construction Corp. to codevelop the hotel and casino complex which is scheduled to start operations by 2025.  It was designed to have 475 luxury hotel rooms and suites, and 1,000-seat and 800-seat theaters.

The casino is expected to have 281 gaming tables, 1,126 slot machines, and 134 electronic table games. —Meg J. Adonis INQ