New notes placement, Okada Manila loan among Universal Entertainment Corp refinancing measures as US$760 million notes near matu

Okada Manila operator Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI) has reached an agreement with China Banking Corporation in the Philippines to borrow US$400 million – part of parent company Universal Entertainment Corp’s plans to refinance US$760 million existing private placement notes due to mature in December.

The loan is one of two actions taken by Universal in regard to the maturing notes, having also revealed it will issue new US dollar-denominated overseas private placement notes through its US financial advisor, CBRE Capital Advisors, Inc.

In a statement on the new notes, Universal said the “purpose of the refinancing is to improve the cashflow structure of the company’s group and secure liquidity by completing an early redemption of the aggregate outstanding amount of the Existing Notes using the proceeds from the issuance of the New Notes.”

TRLEI’s loan, meanwhile, is expected to be finalized on 1 August 2024 with a term of seven years and interest rate of 6.75% per annum. The company said it has put up “real estate mortgage and pledge of shares” as collateral.

TRLEI last week reported gross gaming revenue at Okada Manila of Php11.3 billion (US$194 million) in the three months to 30 June 2024, down 21.8% year-on-year on significant declines in the VIP and gaming machine segments. The result was, however, slightly improved on Q1.