Tiger Asia acquires 66.67% of Okada Manila

MANILA, Philippines — Tiger Resort Asia Limited, the parent company of Tiger Leisure and Entertainment Inc., has completed the acquisition of 66.67 percent of Asiabest Group International Inc. (ABG), paving the way for the backdoor listing of Tiger Resort, operator of Okada Manila integrated casino resort in Parañaque City.

“We received information that the shareholders who signed the share purchase agreement with Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. on Sept. 10,  2018 have transferred/crossed their shares to Tiger via special block sale. As a result Tiger now owns 200 million shares or 66.67 percent of ABG,” ABG, the listed holding company, said yesterday. 

The block sale was completed despite last ditch efforts of embattled Japanese casino tycoon Kazuo Okada to thwart the transaction which was expected to have taken place earlier this year. 

Tiger Resort entered into a share purchase agreement with controlling shareholders of ABG in September last year with the intention of doing a backdoor listing of Okada Manila.

The move required Tiger Resort to conduct a tender offer for all remaining shares of ABG, which commenced in November last year.

The whole process, however, faced delays after ABG shareholders claimed Tiger did not include information on the legal proceedings initiated by Okada.

Okada initiated civil and criminal proceedings in Hong Kong to regain control of Okada Holdings and secure criminal convictions for fraud and financial crimes again those responsible for his alleged illegal ouster as director and chairman of Okada Holdings, Universal Entertainment Corp, Tiger Resort and Okada Holdings in 2017.