Razon in no hurry to sell
Bloomberry Resorts Chairman Enrique Razon says the Philippine casino company will retain ownership of the Jeju Sun Hotel and Casino on Jeju Island in South Korea. The planned sale to Macau junket runner Iao Kun Group Holding Co Ltd., first announced in June, fell apart when the buyer could not complete the financing package.
According to the World Casino Directory, Iao Kun made a deal with Razon to buy a 96.23 percent stake in the operating unit for about US$100 million. Razon had put the property up for sale less than a year after acquiring it because it failed to meet performance benchmarks. Now the resort is doing better and he’s less motivated to unload it.
In September Iao Kun was still trying to complete the deal; by October it was reported the junket group was pulling out of the South Korean deal and would work on paying down lines of credit by focusing on collecting outstanding debts.
“We had a sale already done but it fell through,” said Razon, adding that Bloomberry was “not in a hurry” to find another buyer.
Bloomberry said in a November filing that it continued to operate Jeju Sun, after Iao Kun “failed to raise the funding necessary to consummate the sale.”
Jeju Sun reported gross gaming revenue of PHP28.2 million (US$566,699) for the third quarter of 2016. Non-gaming revenue (excluding interest income) amounted to PHP55.4 million in the period, reported GGRAsia.
Bloomberry reported net profit of approximately PHP1.41 billion for the three months ended September 30, compared to a loss of PHP187.4 million in the prior-year period.
