Gaming company gets SEC nod on share offering

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Leisure and Resorts World Corp.’s (LRWC) plan to raise P250 million from an offering of preferred shares sweetened with warrants, partly to fund the acquisition of a hotel-casino building in Binondo.

Using part of the proceeds, LWRC is buying the 79-room, three-star Binondo Suites in Chinatown, an eight-story hotel-casino building that leases gaming space to the state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Based on SEC documents, LWRC will offer next month 250 million non-voting preferred shares carrying a dividend rate of 8.5 percent a year at P1 a share. Every 20 preferred shares bought will come with a free warrant entitling the investor to purchase one common share over the long term.

The offer period is expected to run from March 13 to 21 this year. The listing of these securities is tentatively set on March 31.

Upon full exercise, the underlying warrants are equivalent to a maximum of 12.5 million common shares. The strike price for the underlying common shares is the lower of either P15 a share or the three-month trading average less a 10-percent discount.

The strike price suggests that LWRC can raise an additional P187.5 million from the sale of common shares if the share price by that time is P15 each or higher.

The warrants can be exercised by holders starting on March 31, 2019, until March 31, 2022. The warrants will expire on April 2, 2022. Doris C. Dumlao