GGRAsia – Belle Corp again pitches CoD Manila ‘expansion’

Belle Corp again pitches CoD Manila ‘expansion’

Apr 24, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Belle Corp, the landlord of the City of Dreams Manila casino resort (pictured) in the Philippines, has made a proposal for its expansion and has submitted the idea to the venue’s operator, Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd.

So reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper on Tuesday, citing comments from Belle Corp’s president Manuel Gana after a firm’s stockholder meeting on Monday.

In April last year, Belle Corp had also mentioned possible “expansion” of City of Dreams Manila. The local unit of Melco Resorts told the Philippine Stock Exchange at the time that it had “no prior knowledge” of Belle Corp’s idea.

GGRAsia approached Melco Resorts about the latest statement from Belle Corp, but had not received a reply by the time this story went online.

According to the Philippine Inquirer report, a one-hectare (2.5-acre) plot next to City of Dreams Manila and held by Belle Corp would be used mainly to create new non-gaming facilities, including hotel accommodation.

Mr Gana said that the existing resort only had one ballroom and one swimming pool.

“The ball is in Melco’s [Melco Resorts’] court. They have a lot of things on their plate,” Mr Gana was quoted as saying.

He said that were the casino firm to decline involvement in expansion, Belle Corp would be “free to do something else.”

Mr Gana was quoted saying: “We can build our own hotel and capitalise on City of Dreams clientele but we prefer Melco [Resorts] to get involved so it can be consolidated into City of Dreams.”