Bloomberry Resorts Corp., the operator of Solaire Resorts & Casino, is raising up to P5.6 billion from its share sale.
Bloomberry said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Friday its board approved the placement of up to 559 million secondary shares owned by one of its controlling shareholders, Quasar Holdings Inc.
The shares will be sold at P10 apiece, which represents a 7-percent discount to the stock’s closing price Thursday.
The casino operator said the share sale would enable it to raise funds in a most expeditious and efficient manner, with the least cost to the company.
“The transaction is also intended to strengthen and broaden the capital base of Bloomberry as well as to promote a wider dispersion of the shares to a broad spectrum of institutional investors,” the company said.
After the placement of shares, Quasar Holdings will also subscribe to the same number of shares at the same offer price of P10 per share.
Share price of Bloomberry has been on the upward trend since the start of the year as the company managed to register strong rebound in earnings from the pandemic-induced slump.
Bloomberry’s net income surged 160 percent in the first half of 2023 to P6.42 billion from P2.5 billion a year ago on strong domestic and international demand.
After removing the impact of a P356.6-million one-time gain on sale from the disposition of an asset, consolidated net income would have increased by 145 percent.
First-half consolidated gross gaming revenues climbed 41 percent to P31.2 billion from P22 billion in the same period in 2022.
The casino operator is developing Solaire North, its second integrated hotel and casino in Quezon City. The new development is slated to open in the first quarter of 2024.
Bloomberry, owned by businessman Enrique Razon Jr., was recently included in the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index, replacing Aboitiz Power Corp.