Ayala Land Inc. has teamed up with
Bloomberry Resorts Corp. to open and operate a shopping area within the
$1.2-billion Solaire Resort & Casino complex in Parañaque City.
Bloomberry and Ayala Land said in a
joint disclosure to the stock exchange the latter would lease and market 5,000
square meters of gross leasable area as a part of phase 1-a expansion of
Solaire Resorts.
“The retail component will have
premium brands to complete the offering of Solaire Resort & Casino,”
Bloomberry said.
Bloomberry is expanding the
8.3-hectare Solaire Resorts, which involves construction of additional 300
all-suite hotel rooms as well as a shopping center with 30 to 40 high-end brand
shops, a 1,800-seating entertainment theater, 3,000 parking spaces, a night club
and more restaurants.
The expansion projects, which cost
$500 million, will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2014.
Solaire Resorts is the first property
to open in the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp.-run Entertainment City in the
Philippines. It is expected to face competition once the City of Dreams Manila,
a casino and resort project of Melco Crown and Belle Corp., opens in the last
the quarter of the year.
Bloomberry, the world’s second-best
performing casino stock, expects at least 10-percent annual growth in gaming
volume as Solaire Resorts brings in more high rollers from Asia.
“Gaming volumes have grown very
nicely,” with both VIP and mass-market gambling showing “double-digit” gains
while operating margins have “strongly” improved, Bloomberry president Thomas
Arasi said.
“We expect those trends to continue,”
Arasi said.
Solaire’s international business has
increased, boosting VIP operations at the 14-month-old casino, Arasi said. From
“substantially” less than half of gambling revenue last year, the share
generated by VIP clients has risen to “close to parity” with mass-market
gaming, he said.
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