Hong Kong-listed Suncity Group Holdings Limited acquired 51-percent stake in Suntrust Home Developers Inc. to co-develop Westside City Resorts World”•an integrated resort and casino of billionaire Andrew Tan.
Suncity through wholly-owned unit Fortune Noble Limited acquired the stake in Suntrust Home Developers which then signed a co-development agreement with Tan’s Travellers International Hotels Group Inc., the developer of Westside City.
Suncity said in a disclosure to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange it would lease the project site “for development of the main hotel casino and Westside is to appoint Suntrust as the sole and exclusive operator and manager of the main hotel casino.”
The lease for the project site will be for 20 years at an annual rental of $10.6 million commencing from the date of handover to SunTrust. It is automatically renewable for a further term of 25 years.
Suntrust in its bid to facilitate the entry of Suncity is expanding its capital base to P23 billion from P3 billion. About 5 billion will be subscribed by Fortune and Megaworld.
Suntrust president Ferdinand Masi said during the company’s annual stockholders meeting Tuesday that Fortune Noble after the subscription would own 51-percent interest in the company while Megaworld ownership will be diluted to 34 percent.
“Suntrust believes that the tourism sector, which has seen significant growth in the recent years, will continue to show sustainable growth and attract more investments. Suntrust is also optimistic that with the support of its shareholders, it will be able to drive more growth for the company and contribute to the tourism industry,” Suntrust said.
Following the disclosure Suntrust requested for a one-day trading suspension to give investors enough time to digest the report.
Westside City is a planned 31-hectare integrated resort and gaming complex in Entertainment City in Parañaque. It will be the fourth resort and casino development to rise in Entertainment City.
The first three are Solaire Resorts & Casino of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. which opened in March 2013, City of Dreams Manila of Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corp. which opened in Decemner 2014 and Manila Bay Resorts of Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada which opened in 2016.
Megaworld said last year it would pour in additional P54 billion for a period of 10 years in Westside City mostly for residential and hotel projects.
The Suncity Group is known to have extensive experience in the leisure and entertainment business and is actively seeking investment opportunities in integrated resort projects worldwide including Cambodia, the Philippines, Myanmar, South Korea, Japan, Russia and Vietnam.
It is also engaged in integrated resort consultancy and travel related products and services.
