Razon taking over Dennis Uy’s casinos

MANILA, Philippines — Ports and casino tycoon Enrique Razon is coming in as the white knight for Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s money-losing casino ventures in Cebu and Clark.

Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts Corp. disclosed yesterday that it had signed a term sheet with Uy’s PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. (PH Resorts), which owns the Emerald  Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Punta Engano, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu and the BaseResort Hotel and Casino in Clark, Pampanga.

Bloomberry Resorts said the term sheet covers the proposed investment of the company into Lapulapu Leisure Inc. that is developing the Emerald Bay Resort Hotel and Casino  Cebu, and Clark Grand Leisure Corp. which is developing The BaseResort .

“The term sheet is subject to several conditions to closing, including he execution of mutually acceptable definitive agreements; approval of regulators; approval of creditors; completion of audited financial statements; corporate approvals, and cooperation on due diligence, among others,” Bloomberry said.

Certain terms and conditions of the transaction, including the method of payment and timing of closing, are still to be finalized, it said.

Emerald Bay Resort is PH Resort’s flagship project. Construction commenced in December 2017 with target opening set for next year.

In October last year, Uy voluntarily suspended the development of the The Base Resort “due to some lingering uncertainties surrounding the casino gaming industry especially with more competition in the Clark, Pampanga location.”

Overall, Uy’s business empire, as with other businesses, has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, PH Resorts reported a net loss of P376.3 million and P158.1 million, respectively, resulting in a deficit of P1.4 billion and P1 billion.

“In addition, PH Resort’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by P7.4 billion and P7.5 billion as of Sept. 30, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2020, respectively.

“These conditions indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern and, therefore, that the group may not be able to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business,” it said in its latest quarterly report filed with regulators last November.

PH Resorts  also said it has ongoing negotiations with its lenders for the conversion of a bridge loan to a long-term project loan, availment of an additional long-term loan, deferral of principal and interest payments and testing of a subsidiary’s debt to equity ratio as well as ongoing plans for other suitable financing and capital raising options.