Cojuangco is local partner
Billionaire Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada has pledged about $2.2 billion of his own money to complete Phase I of Manila Bay Resorts, a project of Okada’s Tiger Resort, Leisure & Entertainment Inc. According to the World Casino Directory, Okada may tap the equities market to raise funds for the development, the third casino complex planned for Parañaque City.
His local partner is Philippine businessman Antonio “Tony Boy” Cojuangco, in an alliance already OK’d by regulator the Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp.
Philippine’s BusinessWorld reports that Okada’s Universal Entertainment will place up to $900 million in private notes to finance the resort construction. Tiger Resort President Kenji Sugiyama says Phase I will open with 1,000 rooms in two hotels, 500 gaming tables and 3,000 slot machines. It will also feature 25 restaurants, a nightclub and “a manmade beach housed in a giant glass dome.” The resort will employ some 8,000 workers.
Okada won one of four permits issued by PAGCOR for Manila’s Entertainment City complex. He considered several Philippine partners including Robinsons Land Corp, Empire East Land Holdings Inc., and Century Properties Group Inc. before reaching terms with Cojuangco’s All Seasons Hotel and Resort Corp. Manila Bay Resorts is the largest of the four resorts planned for Entertainment City and could cost more than $4 billion before it is complete.
According to the Manila Standard, Okada’s is the third gaming company in the Entertainment City to raise money from the stock market. The others are Bloomberry Resorts Corp., operator of Solaire Resorts and Casino and Melco Crown Resorts, builder of City of Dreams Manila.
