Bloomberry raises US$98.3m in share placement

Its public float has risen to 37.17 per cent.

The Philippines.- Bloomberry Resorts Corp has boosted its public float from 33.94 per cent to 37.17 per cent through a share placement and subscription transaction. The move enabled the company to secure PHP5.59bn (US$98.3m) in fresh capital.

The initiation of this fundraising exercise was disclosed by the company in September, indicating the involvement of its controlling shareholder, Quasar Holdings, owned by Philippine billionaire Enrique Razon, who concurrently serves as Bloomberry’s chairman and chief executive.

According to official filings, Quasar Holdings executed the sale of 559 million of its Bloomberry shares, each priced at PHP10.00. In a parallel transaction, Bloomberry Resorts Corp issued 559 million new shares at the same price as those divested by the controlling shareholder.

This strategic scheme has now increased the total number of issued shares by Bloomberry to surpass 11.59 billion. Consequently, the foreign ownership stake in the company has risen to 26.58 per cent, a significant uptick from the previous level of 25.12 per cent.

Financial analysts at Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd projected that, following this transaction, Razon’s stake in Bloomberry Resorts Corp would see a reduction from 65.5 per cent to 62.3 per cent. They expressed optimism that the deal would enhance share liquidity within the company.

Bloomberry Resorts said its goal was to strengthen and diversify its capital base while expanding the ownership of its shares among a broader spectrum of institutional investors.

Maybank IBG Research has recently increased its earnings projections for the casino operator following the company’s financial performance in the first half. Bloomberry’s cumulative net income for the first half of 2023 stood at PHP6.42bn, up 158 per cent year-on-year.