Second casino resort in Manila to open in 2014

Located at Entertainment City, a government-sponsored resort district on 100 hectares of reclaimed bayfront land in the capital city of Manila, Belle Grande will contain 920 hotel rooms, according to current plans, plus a large-scale casino, restaurants and other leisure attractions. Its opening will be the second of four integrated resorts licensed for the prime site. The first, Solaire Resort & Casino, opened the us$ 750 million first phase of its $1.2 billion IR last Saturday.

Belle and Melco Crown finalized an operating agreement last Friday that puts the casino operator in charge of the property with a share of the profits in exchange for an investment of approximately us$ 650 million.

The remaining two IRs consist of a joint venture between the Phillipines’ Alliance Global and Malaysian conglomerate Genting, which also operates a Resorts World-branded casino in Manila, and a joint venture called Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment that is being led by a subsidiary of Japanese machine gaming magnate Kazuo Okada’s Universal Entertainment.

Solaire is owned by Bloomberry Group, a PSX-listed entity controlled by Philippines ports tycoon Enrique Razon, and is operated by Global Gaming Asset Management, a US-based company founded by two former top executives of Las Vegas Sands, William Weidner and Brad Stone.