Melco sets offer price at P14

MANILA, Philippines - The local unit of Macau-based casino giant Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. has priced its offer shares at P14 each,  allowing it to raise $377 million to help finance a $1.3-billion integrated casino complex in Manila.

Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp., which sold 1.09 billion shares, said it pegged the selling price at the high end of the P11-14 indicative price range.

The strong demand for its shares is a sign of the bullishness in the local gaming sector, its transaction adviser said.

“The orderbook was over six times oversubscribed with 140 investors. Asia took up 48 percent, US 37 percent and Europe 15 percent,” Lauro C. Baja III, managing director UBS Investments Philippines Inc., said in a text message.

UBS and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. facilitated the transaction.

“The successful deal exemplified the strong prospects of the Philippine gaming industry and Melco’s experience to deliver as an operator,” Baja said, adding that 72 percent of the shares went to long-term and anchor investors.

Melco Crown is the operator of the $1.3-billion, 900-room Belle Grande Manila casino and resort complex being put up by Belle Corp., the upscale leisure developer of the Henry Sy-led conglomerate SM Investments Corp. (SMIC).

Belle and Melco Crown will start the project’s operations in mid-2013, following the $1.2-billion Solaire Resort and Casino of port magnate Enrique Razon that opened in March.

The government is grooming Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (Pagcor) 120-hectare Entertainment City along Manila Bay in the mold of the Las Vegas, Singapore and Macau gaming hubs.

Belle Grande Manila will be Melco Crown’s first casino outside Macau where it operates the City of Dreams and Altira Macau casinos. The company is developing its third casino, Studio City, which is slated for opening in 2015.