Belle raises funds to complete Manila Bay project

PHILIPPINE leisure and gaming company Belle Corp is planning a common stock offering next quarter to raise four to five billion pesos (US$93 to 116 million) for its Belle Grande Manila Bay project within the upcoming Entertainment City Manila.

Also known as Pagcor City, Entertainment City Manila is a US$15 billion gaming and entertainment complex sitting on an 8km2 piece of reclaimed land on Manila Bay, along Roxas Boulevard and Macapagal Avenue. It is the largest project of its kind in the Philippines.

The Belle Grande Manila Bay project is worth US$750 million. Belle is partnering with Leisure and Resorts World Corp, who put up about US$200 million in capital and will run Belle’s casino operations.

Willy Ocier, vice chairman of Belle Corp, said that the fully-built Belle Grande Manila Bay would occupy 300,000m2, up from the originally-intended 220,000m2.

Belle Grande will offer 19,626m2 of casino gaming space, including 1,600 slot machines and over 300 gaming tables. A 6,000m2 VIP playing area will be operational by late 2013.

Belle Grande’s soft opening is slated for second quarter/mid 2012. An initial 100 rooms should be ready by December 2012, while 1,000 rooms will be operational by end 2013. One of the hotels will be an 86-suite five-star facility for VIP guests, while another four- to five-star hotel will offer 159 rooms.

Belle hired HSAI Raintree in April to manage one of the hotel towers. HSAI Raintree manages the Discovery chain of hotels in the Philippines. Another hotel management company will be brought in to take care of the four remaining condotel tower projects, named Belle Grande Suites, with a total of 466 units.

Three other integrated casino projects have qualified for construction and gaming licenses within Entertainment City Manila. Two of these deals were inked by Genting Malaysia, which runs Resortsworld Manila, and Kazuo Okada, a business partner of Steve Wynn. Another Filipino company holds the remaining contract.

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