Online gaming company PhilWeb Corp. said Tuesday it sold its investment in European hotel Internet service provider Acentic GmbH to Niantic Holding GmbH for $750,000.
PhilWeb said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it also collected nearly 2 million euros from Acentic in full settlement of loan receivables.
“Thus, in total, the company will have cash proceeds of approximately P140 million. This amount will be utilized by the company to cover its overhead while it awaits the re-issuance of its license from Pagcor [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.,” PhilWeb said.
PhilWeb and ISM Communications Corp. completed the acquisition 65-percent stake in Acentic GmbH in 2010. The remaining 35 percent of Acentic was owned by Niantic Holdings GmbH, a German company controlled by Dr. Andreas Jacobs.
Acentic, formed in 2003, provides in-room entertainment including digital television and high-speed Internet access to top hotel groups including Intercontinental, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood in more than 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The purchase aimed to provide an avenue for the expansion of ISM and PhilWeb into the rest of Asia.
PhilWeb submitted a new application with state gaming firm Pagcor in October for an intellectual property licensing and management agreement after the company’s gaming license expired in August 2016.
Pagcor, however, said PhilWeb’s gaming license would likely go through a public bidding in compliance with the law.
PhilWeb said it was informed by Pagcor that renewing the company’s intellectual property licensing and management agreement “is no longer feasible without going though Republic Act 9184.”
RA 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act, prescribes the necessary rules and regulations for the modernization, standardization and regulation of the procurement activities of the government.
Pagcor said it was now expediting the process.
PhilWeb, which has been managing the gaming regulator’s e-games network for the past 14 years, had to close down its network of e-games outlets, which affected 5,000 workers.
PhilWeb’s majority shareholder Roberto Ongpin also divested his entire stake in the gaming firm for P2 billion.