31 acres of prime beachfront
Philippine businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp. is looking to an initial public offering or backdoor listing to fund a planned $341 million casino resort on Mactan Island in Cebu, the Philippines.
According to the Philippine Star, Raymundo Martin Escalona, director of special projects for Udenna, said the company is awaiting the go-ahead from the Environmental Clearance Certificate before it starts excavation. “We’re told the ECC will hopefully be out before Christmas because we complied, we submitted everything,” Escalona said. “We are looking at an IPO or backdoor listing” to help pay for the development, he added.
Udenna’s wholly owned subsidiary Udenna Development Corp. is building the Emerald Resort and Casino, which will be constructed on a 12.5-hectare (31-acre) prime beachfront property on the island in Lapu-Lapu City. Udenna broke ground on the site in July 26.
Escalona said the company is “weighing whether in fact we’ll get an operator or run it ourselves.” The casino hopes to draw both foreign and local players including Singaporeans, Koreans and Chinese. “There’s a huge Korean market already in Mactan. That will be a natural market because they currently go to Cebu,” he said.
