“Self-financing” could seal the deal
A casino resort briefly planned by Philippine-listed fertilizer company Calata Corp. in the fall of 2016 was apparently taken off the table in early 2017. But now the project may be inching forward again.
CalvinAyre.com reported that, while “money remains elusive” for the proposed integrated resort on Mactan Island, Cebu, Calata is still trying to raise money for the development. Calata, which hopes to add real estate investments to its agribusiness portfolio, has informed the Philippine Stock Exchange that it continues to seek financing.
U.S. management consultant RiskWise Global Capital Group has been retained by Calata to identify investment partners and otherwise advise the company. RiskWise previously was in talks with Sino-America Gaming Investment Group LLC and Macau Resources Group Ltd., which hoped to establish a real estate investment trust for the project. But political turbulence in the country put an end to that deal.
In a June 30 letter to Calata, RiskWise said “the events that took place at Resorts World and Okada being replaced as chairman has yet again alarmed strategic partners.” The letter referred to the June 2 attack at Resorts World Manila in which 37 people died, including the lone gunman, as well as the uproar about alleged misappropriation of funds by Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada. He’s the man behind Okada Manila, the newest integrated resort in Manila’s Entertainment City.
Michael Foxman, CEO and president of RiskWise, wrote to Calata, “As you are aware, I have been working on self-financing,” a process he said is “moving along very nicely.”
“We are quite literally waiting for the Australian state and federal government to approve our project and then I am ready to cash out,” he wrote. “With the above said, I personally continue to maintain a commitment to our game plan, and continue to work to overcome delays, concerns and perceptions which are each outside of my control.”
Andrea Domingo, chairwoman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., has called Cebu “the second-largest metropolis” in the Philippines, and “an attractive destination.”
In related news, in May the Philippine government gave a tentative thumbs-up to the first casino resort outside Metro Manila, according to a report at the time from the Daily Tribune. Dennis Uy’s Udenna Development Corp. plans a US$300 million integrated resort and casino on Punto Engaño peninsula in Mactan Island, Lapu-Lapu City. The development called Lapu-Lapu Leisure Mactan will be built on a 12-hectare (30-acre) beachfront tract 20 minutes from the Cebu International Airport.
Udenna is looking to break ground on the development this summer with full build-out slated for 2022. The casino, retail complex and hotels are scheduled to open as early as 2019.
“Lapu-Lapu Leisure Mactan only marks the beginning of our vision of a world-class leisure, residential and commercial destination in Central Visayas,” said Uy, president and CEO of Udenna. “We see this integrated development taking a major role in bringing the Philippines at par with the region’s premier destinations for leisure, gaming and meetings as well as for commercial and residential investments.”
The Nikkei Asian Review saidUy was one of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s top campaign donors during the 2016 election.
