A few months after Global Gaming Asset Management LLC exercised its equity option on Bloomberry Resorts Corporation to raise its stake on the latter to 8.7%, the deal is finally nearing its completion, paving the way for the former to become the second-largest shareholder in Solaire Manila. The equity option was exercised just before the casino is set to open in March of this year and was done by the Las Vegas-based company’s Manila-based firm, Global Gaming Philippines LLC. As part of the deal, Global Gaming Philippines had the right to the option and exercised it by buying 921.18 million shares from Bloomberry’s controlling stockholder, Metroline Holdings, for a reported amount of $15 million, or close to 10% of the cost of investments made on the soon-to-rise casino. Incidentally, Global Gaming Asset Management is the company Bloomberry CEO Enrique Razon Jr. picked to oversee operations of Solaire Manila.
Crown Perth finishes AUS$750 million renovation
Moving south of the Asia-Pacific region, James Packer, executive chairman of Crown Casino, recently announced the completion of the AU$750 million renovation the company invested on Perth’s Burswood casino. The eye-popping amount spent on the renamed Crown Perth was done in large part to offer better services to the high-end Asian tourist market. In so doing, the entire renovation project, which took eight years to complete, involved extensive improvements on the casino infrastructure and property developments, including the development of the posh gaming room called the Sky Room. On top of that, Crown also built a pair of mansion suites that cost AU$11 million each to build, as well as the purchase of three private jets that would eventually become the transportation of the supremest of supreme international high-rollers and VIPs going to the newly minted Crown Perth casino.
Plans also call for the development of a new golf course, something the Crown executive chairman believes will attract even more international tourists to Perth. “We want to do much here,” Packer said, as quoted by Online Casino Australia. “We believe in this city, we believe in this state, [and] as a company, we are lucky to be here.”
