City within a city

If a deal is not clinched by Jan. 31 this year, then an extension of the date to arrive at a definitive agreement may be discussed.

Masahiro Terada, executive officer, Manila project, of Japan-based and Okada-led Universal Entertainment which counts as its subsidiary Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment, of which Terada is president, was of course referring to the joint venture agreement between Tiger and Gokongwei-controlled Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) to develop a $1-billion casino project at Pagcor City.

Mr. Terada told this writer that Tiger and RLC are still in discussion for a definitive agreement, noting that due diligence between Tiger and RLC has not been completed yet.

“Since Tiger and RLC are still in negotiations, Tiger and RLC are unable to disclose the details. Tiger and RLC may discuss extension of the date for a definitive agreement in case Tiger and RLC are unable to finalize by Jan. 31.”

There have been reports that RLC, the property development subsidiary of the Gokongwei Group, may finalize this week a joint venture with Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada for the casino project.

An official of RLC was quoted as saying that the company plans to acquire more than 20 percent of Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment, which would operate the casino and hotel project called Manila Bay Resorts.

Okada’s Tiger Resort is one of the four groups granted  a license to operate a casino in Pagcor’s Entertainment City.

The three others are Travellers International Holdings Inc., a joint venture between Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. and Genting Hong Kong; Bloomberry Resorts Corp. of businessman Enrique Razon Jr.; and Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc. of Henry Sy-led Belle Corp.

Meanwhile, the newspaper report also said that RLC would also acquire at least 51 percent of Eagle I Land Holdings Inc., the landowner of the project.

The two companies, which signed an initial agreement in December, earlier agreed to conclude the deal by Jan. 31, 2013, the report added.

But Lance Gokongwei, president of JG Summit Holdings which is the parent company of RLC, told The STAR in a text message from Europe that there is no confirmed date yet for the signing of the agreement.

One newspaper has reported as follows: “Manila Bay Resorts is envisioned to be a world-class casino resort complex that will boast of luxurious hotels, classy restaurants, commercial facilities, hotels, residences, Vegas-style water fountains and an enormous indoor pool with real sand beach covered by a huge glass dome.

The 44-hectare complex will contain three hotels with 2,000 rooms. Of the three hotels, two will be luxury hotels and one will be a budget hotel. Meanwhile, the gaming component of the project involves 30,000 square meters offering 3,000 slot machines and 500 gaming tables.

Manila Bay Resorts will also contain a shopping mall, a trade hall, luxury retail store and restaurants. The casino complex will have a magnificent water fountain as one of its major attractions as well as residential towers.”

RLC has said that the landmark project was expected to draw interest from local and foreign visitors, especially those from Asia-Pacific. The project is also expected to generate over 5,000 jobs.

For his part, Universal Entertainment Corp. chairman Kazuo Okada said on the occasion of the project’s groundbreaking that the Philippines, with its scenic environment and world-famous Filipino hospitality, is an excellent location for the next huge entertainment tourism hub in the region.

He added that considering its proximity to China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, Manila has a competitive advantage over other major Asian cities.

With the Philippines recently crowned as this year’s tourism destination, let us hope that all these new attractions will be able to bring in more foreign visitors. As earlier pointed out in this column, all these accolades that the country has been getting from foreign magazines and groups still has to translate into increased tourist arrivals. Compared to Thailand and Vietnam, we still lag behind.

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