Okada drops Dennis Uy’s Emerald Bay casino

FILE PHOTO: Okada Manila (right) and PH Resorts Group Emerald Bay (left). | PHOTOS: Official website of PH Resorts Group and official Facebook page of Okada Manila

MANILA, Philippines — PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. has again failed to sell the $300-million Emerald Bay project in Cebu after the operator of Okada Manila bowed out of the deal that would have finally nudged the project toward completion.

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, PH Resorts said its subsidiary, PH Travel and Leisure Holdings Corp., received a letter from Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI) on Monday, July 1, 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., both the operators of the Mactan casino project that began construction in 2017.

READ: Japan’s Universal Entertainment in talks to buy Dennis Uy’s stalled casino

PH Resorts president Raymundo Martin Escalona said in a statement that while they understood TRLEI dropping out of the deal, the termination also opened opportunities to engage with “other parties that have already expressed their keen interest in the Emerald Bay project.”

Escalona added that the other companies were unable to pursue Emerald Bay “due to the restrictions under the TRLEI deal.”

READ: Razon pulls out of casino investment deal with Davao’s Dennis Uy

“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.

Escalona did not name the interested parties, noting that they would make the appropriate disclosures.

Dennis Uy’s 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.