Three years after first signing an agreement to buy out former parent Genting Hong Kong’s joint venture interests, Philippines conglomerate Alliance Global Group (AGI) has finally acquired full ownership of Manila’s Newport World Resorts.
The company confirmed via a Wednesday filing that all conditions precedent to the transaction have now been fulfilled, with AGI subsidiary Newport World Resorts Properties, Inc (NWRPI) taking ownership of the 40% stake it didn’t previously hold in Travellers International Hotel Group Inc (TIHGI) – operator of Newport World Resorts. The selling parties are former Genting Hong Kong entities Star Cruises Philippines Holdings B.V., Asian Travellers Ltd and Premium Travellers Ltd.
Although AGI has effectively operated Newport World Resorts as a full owner for more than four years, this week’s developments formalize that position. As such, it now holds an effective 100% position in Newport World Resorts and an 80% stake in the new Westside Resort project in Entertainment City – the latter due to open in Entertainment City in the coming months.
Under the old joint venture partnership between AGI and Genting Hong Kong, Newport World Resorts opened in 2009 with the name Resorts World Manila before rebranding in July 2022 following the collapse of Genting’s cruise ship arm.
With debts totalling around US$2.8 billion, Genting Hong Kong announced in January 2022 the appointment of liquidators after defaulting on various loans when unable to drawdown a US$88 million backstop facility from the State of Mecklenburg Vorpommern for the continued operation of its Germany shipbuilding subsidiary, MV Werften Holdings Ltd (MVWH).
Those liquidators quickly began selling off Genting Hong Kong assets but revealed in August 2022 that the company’s interest in Newport World Resorts was one of its key remaining assets yet to be offloaded.
Genting Hong Kong was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 16 May 2023.
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