Bloomberry raises P11B from debt deal
TYCOON Enrique Razon-led Bloomberry Resorts Corp. has raised P11.42 billion from a private debt deal to fund the expansion of Solaire Resort and Casino, the first integrated gaming and entertainment hub that opened at the Pagcor Entertainment City.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Bloomberry said its subsidiary Sureste Properties Inc. and the latter’s subsidiary Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc. ( BRHI) had sourced the fresh funds from a corporate notes facility. BRHI acted as the issuer of the corporate notes while Sureste provided guarantee to the issuance of debt notes.
Since corporate notes are issued to no more than 19 institutional investors, this process is a faster way for top- tier corporations to raise fresh funds than a retail bond offering, which entails a tedious securities registration process.
The banks that participated in BRHI’s corporate notes facility were BDO Unibank, BDO Leasing and Finance Inc., BDO Private Bank, China Bank, Robinsons Bank and United Coconut Planters Bank.
BDO Capital and Investment Corp. acted as lead arranger and sole bookrunner for this transaction.
Last year, Bloomberry announced plans to invest P20.5 billion to expand Solaire with the goal of opening these additional facilities to the public toward the end of this year.
Upon completion, the Phase 1-A expansion of Solaire will provide an additional 200 slot machines, 65 gaming tables, a new 300-room allsuite boutique hotel tower, additional restaurants, a retail promenade with more than 20,000 square meters of leasable space, a performance theater with up to 1,800 seats, a nightclub and a parking facility with space for about 3,500 cars.
Bloomberry opened the Solaire complex in Pagcor City, the Philippines’ version of a Las Vegasstyle gaming strip, in March last year. Bloomberry also tapped early last year a P14.3- billion syndicated loan facility to fund Phase 1- A expansion but it was always an option for the company to sell debt paper to refinance existing liabilities and pare down debt financing cost.