Prominent Asian junket firm, Suncity Group, has reportedly inked a multi-layered agreement that is to see it become largely responsible for operating the main casino and hotel inside the Philippines’ coming Resorts World Westside City development.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, the $700 million Resorts World Westside City is being built in the Entertainment City district of metropolitan Manila and is expected to open by 2023 featuring a 400-room hotel alongside a 1,959,031 sq ft casino offering a selection of approximately 1,200 slots as well as some 400 VIP and mass-market gaming tables.

Complicated web:

Inside Asian Gaming reported that Resorts World Westside City is the brainchild of local property developer Megaworld Corporation working in partnership with an entity known as Travellers International Hotel Group Incorporated, which is itself a joint venture of Filipino conglomerate Alliance Global Group Incorporated and Asian casino giant Genting Malaysia Berhad.

Controlling interest:

Suncity has now reportedly reached a deal with Megaworld Corporation and a firm known as Aurora Securities Incorporated that is to see its Fortune Noble Limited subordinate purchase a 51% stake in the pair’s Suntrust Home Developers Incorporated vehicle. At the same time, this latter entity has purportedly inked a co-development agreement that is to see it lease the hotel and casino inside the coming Resorts World Westside City.

The terms of this alliance are to moreover see Megaworld Corporation retain a 43.5% stake in Suntrust Home Developers Incorporated with Aurora Securities Incorporated holding 5.5% of the vehicle’s shares.

Corporate harmony:

Suncity reportedly declared that it has ‘been expanding and seeking opportunities to expand its tourism-related business’ and that the arrangement to operate the casino and hotel inside the fourth Entertainment City integrated casino resort will complement its existing operations in Cambodia, Vietnam and South Korea.

In a statement from Suncity…

“Suntrust Home Developers Incorporated will be the sole and exclusive operator of the main hotel casino, which will be a five-star Entertainment City hotel and casino complex in Manila, Philippines. The investment in SunTrust Home Developers Incorporated marks the first step towards establishing the group’s footprint in the casino and entertainment market of the Philippines and will allow the group to tap into this growing market as well as provide synergies to the overall tourism-related business of the group in the Southeast Asia region.”