THE LOCAL unit of Las Vegas-based
Global Gaming Asset Management has completed the acquisition of a stake in
listed Bloomberry Resorts Corp., the hotel and casino operator said in a disclosure
yesterday.
“BLOOM (Bloomberry’s trading symbol)
hereby discloses that the transaction closed today [Friday] and the shares were
crossed today [Friday] via special block sales at the Philippine Stock Exchange
at a price of P1.67 per share,” stated the disclosure.
The purchase is equivalent to
“approximately” 10% of Bloomberry.
“[Global Gaming Philippines’] stake is
approximately 10% after exercising [its] option, [it] had no ownership ‘stake’
prior to this,” Michael French, the company’s chief operating officer, said in
an e-mail on Tuesday when asked on Global Gaming Philippines’ stake after the
transaction.
Global Gaming Philippines LLC, which
manages Solaire Manila, the integrated resort casino complex of Bloomberry
Resorts, on Wednesday purchased 921.18 million shares in the listed company.
The shares will be sold by Prime
Metroline Holdings, Inc. to Global Gaming Philippines at $15 million, stated a
previous disclosure last week.
Prime Metroline Holdings is
Bloomberry’s largest shareholder with 5.97 billion shares equivalent to 71.29%
as of end-September.
Bloomberry, which debuted on the local
bourse early this year via backdoor listing, is building the $1-billion,
five-star Solaire Manila at the Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City in
Parañaque City.
Aside from Bloomberry, three other
casino-resort developers, namely, Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc.,
the SM Consortium, and Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment, Inc., have also
been authorized by the government to build their respective gaming projects in
Entertainment City.
The first phase of Solaire Manila,
which will open next March, will feature an 11-storey, 500-room hotel atop a
three-level podium, as well as a 10-storey parking building all to be built on
an 8.3-hectare property, with the casino and gaming area alone expecting to
feature 1,200 slot machines and occupy some 18,500 square meters.
In addition, Phase 1A and Phase 2 --
two areas at Solaire Manila roughly measuring a combined eight hectares -- have
been allotted for future expansion.
Bloomberry widened its nine-month net
loss to P369.47 million from P103.49 million last year due to a continued surge
in expenses incurred from the construction of Solaire Manila.
Shares of Bloomberry gained 10
centavos or 0.76% to P13.20 on Friday. -- Cliff Harvey C. Venzon
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