MJCI secures fresh funding

MANILA, Philippines - Listed holding firm MJC Investments Corp. (MJIC) of the Reyno family is securing fresh funding from a Hong Kong-based investor group.

With this, the company said it can now proceed with its planned tourism hub in Manila after calling off a P2.15-billion share sale last year.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, MJCI said its board of directors “accepted the offer of a group of Hong Kong investors headed by Cheah Teik Seng, through their Philippine corporations, to subscribe to 450 million shares of the corporation’s common shares with a lock-up period of two years.”

Cheah is a Hong Kong-based investment banker holding seats in the board of various private equity firms in Hong Kong, China and Malaysia.

“Our parent company, Manila Jockey Club Inc., remains as the controlling shareholder of the corporation,” MJCI said, adding that additional shares will be listed in the local bourse.

The transaction value was not disclosed.

In October, Manila Jockey Club dropped its plan for a P2.15-billion equity deal in exchange for its 51-percent stake in MJCI.

MJCI earlier planned to use fresh capital to build a hotel and entertainment complex at the San Lazaro Business and Tourism Park in Sta. Cruz, Manila and a tourism hub in Occidental Mindoro.

The property was subject of a share swap deal entered into with Manila Jockey Club in exchange for 600.8 million shares of MJCI.

Manila Jockey Club wants to keep a majority stake or at least 51-percent share in the listed holding firm.

MJCI is also building a master-planned tourism complex with a golf course and marina in a 74-hectare coastal resort property in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.

In the nine months to September last year, total comprehensive income of MJCI slipped to P13.617 million from P20.895 million a year earlier.

Revenues, derived mainly from horse racing operations and real estate sales under a joint venture with property giant Ayala Land Inc., rose 13 percent to P171.135 million but cost of sales and services surged at a faster pace of 30 percent to P99.5 million.