Kazuo Okada’s investment group is close to securing a second local partner which will enable him to bypass a foreign ownership limit that has proved an obstacle to his US$2bn gaming resort in Manila, Philippines.
Privately held First Paramount Holdings 888 said it expects to finalise an agreement, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which said the company is also evaluating an investment in Okada's Manila Bay Resorts, which is due to open in 2015 in the government’s new Entertainment City resort district on Manila Bay.
Okada and several Japanese and Philippine associates still face charges of bribery in connection with the project and investigations are ongoing in the Philippines and the US.
First Paramount has agreed to spend $8m to acquire a 24 per cent stake in Eagle 1 Landholdings, the Okada vehicle that owns the 44-hectare plot where the casino and hotel will be built, one of four licensed for Entertainment City.
Together with a 36 per cent stake to be acquired by locally owned Century Properties Group this will bring Philippine ownership in Eagle 1 to 60 per cent, the minimum required under federal law.
First Paramount is a subsidiary of Sta. Elena Construction and Development Corp, a leading Philippine builder of large-scale ports, harbour and other infrastructure works. Sta. Elena is the civil works contractor for Manila Bay Resorts and has worked with Solaire Resort and Casino, which opened at Entertainment City in March, and Melco Crown’s City of Dreams Manila, scheduled to open at the complex next summer.
The fourth Entertainment City licensee is Travellers International Hotel Group, a joint venture between Genting Hong Kong and local property giant Alliance Global. Travellers owns the country's largest casino, Resorts World Manila.
