Ex-Solaire manager wins arbitration vs Bloomberry

A SINGAPORE-based arbitration court has ruled that the Las Vegas-based Global Gaming Philippines LLC (GGAM) had been unjustly booted out of the management of Solaire Resorts & Casino and also upheld GGAM’s claim to an 8.7 percent stake in resort owner and developer Bloomberry Resorts Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, Bloomberry said the Singaporean Arbitration Tribunal hearing the dispute between Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc. (BRHI) and Sureste Properties Inc. (SPI) and GGAM had issued a “partial award” on Sept. 20.

The court declared that GGAM had not misled the respondents BRHI/SPI into signing the management services agreement (MSA) and that respondents were “not justified to terminate the MSA because the services rendered by the respondents management team should be considered as services rendered by GGAM under the MSA.”

When tycoon Enrique Razon-led Bloomberry terminated the management contract with GGAM for Solaire in 2013, it claimed that the latter had breached their management services agreement (MSA). GGAM fought back by bringing the case for arbitration, claiming that Bloomberry was the one in violation of the MSA.

Under the deal, GGAM was to provide planning technical and other advisory services to the Solaire Manila project during its construction and fit-out stage and was supposed to provide management services during its commercial operation.

The Tribunal rejected GGAM’s claim that the Las Vegas firm had been defamed by the publicized statements of the BRHI/SPI chair. However, the court found no basis for Bloomberry to challenge GGAM’s title to some 921.184 million Bloomberry shares “because the grounds for termination were not substantial and fundamental, thus GGAM can exercise its rights in relation to those shares, including the right to sell them,” the disclosure said.

GGAM had attempted to unload these shares in the past but the sale was disrupted by the legal dispute.

“BRHI and SPI were advised by Philippine counsel that an award of the Arbitral Tribunal can only be enforced in the Philippines through an order of a Philippine court of proper jurisdiction after appropriate proceedings taking into account applicable Philippine law and public policy,” the Bloomberry disclosure said.