Posted on
February 01, 2013 08:26:20 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
AN
END-JANUARY signing of a deal between local property developer Robinsons Land Corp.
and casino giant Universal Entertainment Corp. for a commercial-entertainment
complex beside Manila Bay has been moved as talks between the two firms
continue, the Japan-based firm said in a statement on Thursday.
Acknowledging
that “a final agreement was scheduled to be completed by Jan. 31, 2013,”
Universal Entertainment said in the statement that “negotiations concerning the
final agreement are proceeding smoothly” and that it was “continuing to work on
concluding the final agreement as soon as possible.”
“All relevant
information required to be disclosed regarding this project shall be released
in a speedy and timely manner,” the Japanese company added.
There was no
new deadline to ink the deal.
Last month,
Robinsons Land inked an initial deal with Japan-based Universal Entertainment —
owned by tycoon Kazuo Okada — wherein the Gokongwei-led company would take
minority and majority stakes in Okada Group units Tiger Resorts Leisure and
Entertainment, Inc. and Eagle 1 Land Holdings, Inc., respectively.
Under the
agreement, Robinsons Land will build commercial and residential facilities at
Tiger Resorts’ Manila Bay Resorts, an integrated casino resort complex that
broke ground in January 2011 at the Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City
in Parañaque City. Eagle 1 owns the land.
During the
groundbreaking, Mr. Okada announced that Manila Bay Resorts will feature a
450-room VIP casino hotel, a 600-room luxury casino hotel, a 1,000-room budget
hotel, a 150-store upscale shopping mall, restaurants, an indoor beach club and
fountain show attraction, as well as a 24/7 world-class casino facility with
over 500 game tables and 3,000 slot machines.
Manila Bay
Resorts is slated for opening next year, Tiger Resorts earlier said.
Robinsons
Land, for its part, was incorporated in 1980 and is the property arm of listed
conglomerate JG Summit Holdings, Inc. As of end-September last year, the
company operated 32 shopping malls, 34 residential projects, eight office
buildings, and nine hotels.
Robinsons
Land and its subsidiaries are engaged in the business of selling, acquiring,
building, developing, leasing and disposing of real properties such as land,
buildings, shopping malls, commercial centers and housing projects, hotels and
mixed-used property projects.
The real estate
firm posted a net income of P4.24 billion in its 2012 fiscal year, up 6.80%
from P3.97 billion the previous year, fueled by higher revenues from its
commercial, office, and hotel units despite a slowdown in its residential
business.
Revenues in
the comparative periods climbed by 5.54% to P13.52 billion from P12.81 billion,
while costs expanded by 13.33% to P7.14 billion from P6.30 billion.
Shares of
Robinsons Land gained 35 centavos or 1.64% to P21.75 on Friday from P21.40 on
Thursday. — Franz Jonathan G. de la Fuente
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