Philippines gaming investor PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc, the developer of stalled Cebu integrated resort Emerald Bay, said Monday it is in “substantive discussions” with new parties due to a lack of progress in takeover talks with a local property developer.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, PH Resorts Group signed in early October a Memorandum of Understanding with Cebu-based AppleOne Properties Inc for potential investment into Emerald Bay. Under the terms of the MOU, AppleOne was to invest an undisclosed amount of money to obtain either a majority of the equity interest in PH Resorts Group subsidiaries Lapulapu Leisure, Inc and Lapulapu Land Corp, or to acquire some or all the assets comprising Emerald Bay and its associated land.
However, in a Philippine Stock Exchange filing on Monday, PH Resorts Group said its subsidiaries and AppleOne have not entered into a definitive agreement and that, as the MOU was a non-exclusive engagement, “PH Resorts Group is having substantive discussions with other parties.”
Should the MOU ultimately fall through, it will be the second time this year that possible salvation has escaped the company’s clutches: PH Resorts Group was previously negotiating with Solaire Resort owner Bloomberry Resorts Corp over a deal that would have seen Bloomberry acquire a substantial share in Emerald Bay and another stalled project known as The Base Resort Hotel and Casino in Clark before Bloomberry ultimately withdrew from that deal in March.
Should funding eventually come its way, Emerald Bay is envisioned to become the second integrated resort on Cebu following the 2022 opening of Nustar.
Phase 1 of Emerald Bay is to include 146 gaming tables and 729 electronic gaming machines (EGMs) plus 780 hotel room bays and five villas.
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