Kazuo Okada’s search for new Philippine partners has uncovered a couple of unnamed local groups reported to be interested in helping the Japanese machine gaming tycoon move forward with his planned megaresort in Manila.
Eagle II Holdings, the landowner operating under the umbrella of Mr Okada’s Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment, said it has concluded a memorandum of understanding with the two entities to sell them 60% of Eagle II, thereby enabling Tiger to satisfy the country’s 40% limit on foreign ownership.
Mr Okada’s original partnership with Philippine property giant Robinsons Land fell apart earlier this year after the two failed to agree on terms.
Tiger President Masahiro Terrada told The Philippine Star the entry of the two companies will allow the group to complete its Entertainment City Manila resort on schedule in the first quarter of 2015. Manila Bay Resorts, as it’s called, is slated to include three hotels with a total of 2,000 rooms, a casino, restaurants and high-end retail, cinemas, MICE space and other attractions. Its cost is pegged at US$2 billion, about half of which includes a luxury residential component to be developed in partnership with Philippine real estate tycoon Andrew Tan.