Okada Manila up for name change

MANILA, Philippines — Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI) plans to change the name of its integrated casino resort Okada Manila to remove the remaining vestiges of its former chairman Kazuo Okada.

The move comes after TRLEI’s parent company Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. (TRAL) completed the acquisition of the majority of shares of Philippine listed company Asiabest Group International Inc. (ABG).

The Hong Kong-based TRAL completed the acquisition of 66.6 percent of the listed shares of ABG, paving the way for the eventual backdoor listing of TRLEI. TRAL now owns 200 million shares of ABG.

“In light of these developments, Okada Manila has begun considering changing its brand name. With the move of potentially changing its brand name, TRLEI, can now fully focus on refining its operations and further achieving stellar growth on a clean, untarnished slate,” Okada Manila said.

Okada Manila was named after its founder Okada.

However, the embattled pachinko king lost control of his companies after his children turned against him in 2017 because of allegations of fraud.

Okada then initiated civil and criminal proceedings in Hong Kong to regain control of his companies, Okada Holdings, Universal Entertainment Corp. and TRAL.

Okada Holdings is the controlling shareholder of UEC, which in turn is the 100 percent owner of TRAL, the operator of the integrated casino resort.

But Okada is facing an uphill battle to regain control of his companies  after a Tokyo court ruled in favor of Okada’s son’s and daughter’s trust agreement.

The court ruling effectively shut the door for his return to his former empire.

Okada pinned his hope for a comeback on the outcome of lawsuits in Tokyo and Hong Kong between Okada’s son Tomohiro and daughter Hiromi.

Hiromi is challenging the validity of a 30-year trust agreement that she originally signed with her brother Tomohiro, which led to the ouster of their father Kazuo from Okada Holdings.

Hiromi later disowned the trust agreement and claimed that she was deceived into signing it, but Tomohiro maintained that it was a valid agreement that Hiromi signed with full knowledge and consent.

Tomohiro filed a case in Tokyo to confirm the validity of the trust agreement. 

Last Jan. 25, the Tokyo court rejected Hiromi’s claims and upheld the validity of the trust agreement between Hiromi and Tomohiro.

Last November 2018, the Parañaque Regional Trial Court also dismissed the intra-corporate case filed by Okada seeking to be reinstated in TRLEI.