Universal Entertainment Corp says it has agreed in principal to invest in companies linked to the stalled Emerald Bay casino resort scheme (pictured in a file photo) at Mactan in Cebu in the Philippine. If the deal is finalised as expected by July 2024, the “development and construction of the resort project will proceed with the aim of opening in 2026,” said the Japanese company in a Friday filing.

A unit of Universal Entertainment will “acquire a majority stake in the Emerald Bay project and complete the partially developed Emerald Bay” integrated resort (IR), stated the filing.

PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc, led by Philippine entrepreneur Dennis Uy, issued a Monday filing on the move, which also cited an official of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI), a Universal Entertainment unit that runs the Okada Manila casino resort.

“This new venture is aligned with our strategy to increase our footprint in the Philippines, given our remarkable success with Okada Manila,” the PH Resorts filing quoted Byron Yip, president and chief operating officer of TRLEI, as saying.

He was also quoted as stating TRLEI would be “excited to bring our signature level of hospitality and service excellence to a new and discerning market”.

According to the PH Resorts filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the advisor for the tie-up was CBRE Securities.

TRLEI has a preliminary agreement with PH Travel and Leisure Holdings Corp, a subsidiary of the PH Resorts group, for the acquisition of certain interests in Lapulapu Leisure Inc, and Lapulapu Land Corp, which are subsidiaries of PH Travel and are developing Emerald Bay.

PH Resorts received in 2017 a provisional gaming licence for the site from the country’s casino regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor)

According to the announcements, Emerald Bay will have a five-star hotel adjacent to 300 metres (984 feet) of beachfront, with two 15-storey towers accommodating 642 rooms, four pools, 18 food and drink outlets, retail space, conference and exhibition facilities, and a “large-scale” gaming floor with more than 700 electric gaming machines and over 140 tables.

PH Resorts’ chairman Mr Uy was cited as saying in the Monday statement: “In PH Resorts’ partnership with Okada Manila, we hope to turn Emerald Bay Resort into a symbol for, and a catalyst of, the development of Cebu as the center of the Visayan tourism market in the Philippines.”

PH Resorts’ president and chief executive Raymundo Martin Escalona was also cited as stating: “We are very excited about the prospects that our partnership with TRLEI will bring. There are very strong and broad synergies that have been identified which will result in a very mutually beneficial relationship.”

At one stage PH Resorts was in talks with Philippine casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp about the latter possibly becoming an investor in several PH Resorts casino schemes, but the talks ended without a deal.