Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc., having operated Okada Manila for seven years now, is on the lookout for expansion opportunities in the country.
Kenji Sugiyama, Okada Manila chief managing director, said the company has started negotiations with Dennis Uy’s PH Travel and Leisure Holdings Corp. to acquire a majority stake of the latter’s Mactan property.
The transaction will give Tiger Resort the opportunity to take over the development of the Emerald Bay Resort.
“We’ve been operating this property (Okada Manila) since 2016. We’ve been looking for another opportunity to expand our project. That project (Emerald Bay) fit into our next step (of expansion),” Sugiyama said.
He, however, declined to commit on the timetable of the acquisition, saying he is not directly involved in conducting the due diligence on the project.
Tiger Resort earlier said it will complete the partially-developed Emerald Bay Resort in Cebu in exclusive partnership with Lapulapu Leisure Inc. and Lapulapu Land Corp., the operating subsidiaries of PH Resorts.
“This new venture is aligned with our strategy to increase our footprint in the Philippines, given our success with Okada Manila,” Byron Yip, president and COO atTiger Resort, said.
The resort project on Mactan Island is planned as an integrated resort with a five-star hotel adjacent to 300 meters of beachfront, with two 15-story towers accommodating 642 rooms, four pools, 18 food and beverage outlets, retail spaces, conference and exhibition facilities and a large-scale gaming floor with more than 700 electronic gaming machines and more than 140 tables.
“The conditions (for Tiger Resort’s takeover) include among others, the execution of a definitive agreement and the approval from the relevant governmental authorities, if any,” the companies said.
