Global Gaming wins arbitration case vs Bloomberry

CASINO management service provider Global Gaming Philippines LLC (GGAM) has won its arbitration case against Bloomberry Resorts Corp. after the Arbitral Tribunal in Singapore ruled that GGAM had been unjustly booted out of the management of Solaire Resorts & Casino.

The ruling also upheld GGAM’s claim to an 8.7 percent stake in Bloomberry Resorts Corp.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, Bloomberry said the Singaporean tribunal issued a Partial Award on Liability dated September 20, granting GGAM its rights to the 921.18 million shares equivalent to an 8.7 percent stake in the Solaire developer and operator.

Bloomberry Resorts is the parent company of Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc. ( BRHI) and Sureste Properties Inc. ( SPI), the owners and operators of Solaire Resort & Casino,

In 2012, BRHI and SPI entered into a fiveyear deal with GGAM to own 8.7 percent of Prime Metroline’s stake in Bloomberry, which GGAM exercised before that year ended. The contract authorized GGAM to manage the casino operations of Solaire.

Bloomberry later moved to terminate the deal, saying GGAM breached the terms of the contract, resulting in GGAM filing an arbitration case in Singapore.

In 2014 the arbitration court ruled in favor of Bloomberry, allowing for the sale 921.18 million shares of GGAM in the Solaire developer, but this was turned around in the recent tribunal order, citing that the Las Vegas- based casino manager may hold on to its 8.7 percent stake in Bloomberry.

“There is no basis for the respondents ( Bloomberry group) to challenge GGAM’s title to the 921.18 million Bloomberry shares because the grounds for termination were not substantial and fundamental, thus GGAM can exercise its rights in relation to those shares, including the right to sell them,” the tribunal was quoted in the Bloomberry disclosure.

The tribunal noted that GGAM had not misled BRHI and SPI into signing the casino management deal, and that the Bloomberry group’s claims in terminating the agreement “were not justified” as services rendered by GGAM are under the management service agreement ( MSA) contract between the two parties.

The arbitrator also rejected GGAM’s claim that it was defamed by the publicized statements of Enrique Razon, chairman of the Bloomberry group.

The arbitrator said the public awarding and the decision on reliefs, remedies and costs of the case will be reserved for the next tribunal order.

BRHI and SPI were advised by the tribunal that the award “can only be enforced in the Philippines through an order of a Philippine court of proper jurisdiction after appropriate proceedings taking into account applicable Philippine law and public policy.”

GGAM is the local unit of Global Gaming Asset Management, an international management service provider operating casinos in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore.

Formerly Active Alliance Inc., Bloomberry was incorporated in 1999, and had changed its corporate name into its present one in 2012.