Too late for Emerald Bay Philippines?

Three times, Dennis Uy’s PH Resorts Group tried and failed to find an investor for its Emerald Bay casino resort in the Philippines.

Would-be saviours included Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment Inc, which operates Okada Manila; Enrique Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts; and Philippine developer AppleOne Group. Those deals all came and went.

Finally, in December, PHR signed an MOU with construction firm EEI Corp to complete the PHP17.5 billion ($314 million) resort in Mactan, Cebu. In January, EEI paid PHP300 million to a PHR subsidiary “to partially fund the lease and interest payments” to its primary lender, China Banking Corp, or Chinabank. Parent company Udenna Corp also declared its willingness to offer “continuing support” to PHR to pay back millions to bailed investment partner Bloomberry.

As recently as April 30, the prospective partners “had ongoing discussions to determine and finalise the terms of the agreements”, stated PHR.

Not so fast, says Chinabank. The lender has just announced it will sell the real estate under the idle development, putting the future of Emerald Bay in question.

According to the Philippine Inquirer, Chinabank Chairman Hans Sy said “a couple of interested parties” are looking at the 30-acre beachfront tract. He did not identify potential buyers.

A pandemic casualty

Once heralded as “a luxury leisure experience unlike any other”, Emerald Bay was to include a five-star hotel, four pools, 18 dining outlets, retail and conference and exhibition facilities. Its planned gaming floor would have accommodated more than 700 electronic gaming machines and 140 tables.

Emerald Bay would have been part of a cluster of casino resorts in Cebu, along with Nustar, a Universal Hotels property, and Kevin Tan’s PHP22.3 billion Mactan World, due to break ground in 2026.

Builders broke ground in 2017 with a plan to open in 2021, but the Covid-19 pandemic intervened. Construction on Emerald Bay was suspended and never resumed.

Now, with the expiration of its leaseback deal with PHR, Chinabank is ready to dispose of the real estate.

“We gave Dennis a chance to redeem,” Sy told reporters. “Of course, they asked for an extension. But we already gave them more than a year. It’s already in our name.… We’re not renewing anymore.”

 After several false starts, last year PH Resorts Corp found an investor for its stalled Philippines resort project. Now the lender plans to sell the land.