Belle Corporation has rescinded its revenue-sharing agreement with gaming investor Leisure Resorts World Corporation (LRWC).
The gaming and property unit of the Sy family made the announcement in a filing before the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday. Belle will pay LRC a total of P5.09 billion (US$104.56 million) for the termination of the agreement.
So far, Belle has disclosed that it has given LRWC a total of P1.018 billion (US$20.9 million) upon signing of the new agreement, with the balance to be paid at the end of March 2017.
“Under the terms of this newly signed agreement, the LRWC group will be able to finalize its transaction with the Belle group by the end of March 2017. Thereafter, the March 13, 2013 agreements will be deemed terminated,” Belle said in its latest filing.
In January 2011, LRWC inked several agreements with Belle, along with its unit Premium Leisure and Amusement Incorporated (PLAI), for the leasing, fit out, and operation of an integrated casino development project now within Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s (PAGCOR) Entertainment City.
The pact, however, were amended in March 2013 as Belle handpicked Melco Crown Entertainment Limited, a company owned by Australian billionaire James Packer and Lawrence Ho, the son of Macau gaming mogul Stanley Ho, as the operator of the $1 billion hotel and casino project now called City of Dreams Manila.
Belle and PLAI agreed to pay the LRWC Group an amount equivalent to the 30% interest in the net lease income of the project and the 30% share in the gaming revenue derived therefrom, among others.
In a separate filing, LRWC disclosed that the proceeds from the latest agreement with Belle “are intended to be utilized by the LRWC group on its core businesses.” LRWC operates its gaming business through AB Leisure Exponent Incorporated.
AB Leisure operates professional bingo games through Bingo Bonanza Corp, as well as internet and gaming enterprises in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone through First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corp.
