Gaming resort operator Okada Group dropped its backdoor listing plan after selling its entire stake in listed dormant company Asiabest Group International Inc. to a consortium led by PremiumLands Corp. owned by businessman Francis Lloyd Chua for P510.4 million.
Asiabest said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday its major stockholder, Okada-owned Tiger Resort Asia Limited (TRAL) signed a share purchase agreement for its 66.67-percent stake in the company to PremiumLands at P2.55 per share. No other details were disclosed.
The shares of Asiabest started going up in October, making it one of the best-performing stocks in 2024.
From a 52-week low of P2.66 per share, the stock price of Asiabest surged more than 900 percent to a 52-week high of P27.55.
“Considering that the financial performance of Okada Manila, the integrated resort operated by TRLEI, has been growing steadily and performing well in the past years, Tiger Resort Asia have judged that the necessity of Asiabest for TRLEI to be listed no longer exists,” said Japan’s Universal Entertainment in a filing Friday. Universal Entertainment is the parent company of TRAL.
TRAL acquired Asiabest in 2019 as part of its plan to list its $2.4-billion integrated resort and casino Okada Manila in the local bourse.
Okada Manila is the third integrated resort and casino to open in Pagcor Entertainment City after Bloomberry Resort’s Solaire Resort & Casino and Melco Crown’s City of Dreams.
Gaming revenues of Okada Manila declined 26.6 percent in the first nine months of 2024 to P25.84 billion on lower VIP customers.
Following the disclosure, the Philippine Stock Exchange immediately suspended the trading of Asiabest shares.
