H2O to Become PH Resorts Group
Philippine petroleum king Dennis Uy has gotten the all-clear from the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission to have one of his publicly traded companies engage in casino operations.
In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Uy announced that Philippine H2O Ventures Corp., in which he holds a 62 percent share, will soon change its name to PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc. and list its primary businesses as “hotel and/or gaming and entertainment.”
Through his Udenna Development Corp., Uy has invested $341 million in the Emerald Resort and Casino on Mactan Island in Cebu Province, a project approved in 2017 by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. PAGCOR signed off on the plan before President Rodrigo Duterte called a moratorium on new casino licenses in the country, reported CalvinAyre.com. Emerald Resort is being built on 12.5 hectares (31 acres) of “prime beachfront property” in Lapu-Lapu City. It is scheduled to be complete in 2020.
Udenna is also allocating $5 billion over 10 years for a business district in Clark Global City in the Clark Freeport Zone north of Manila.
