Okada Manila Ready to Land on NASDAQ

Okada Manila is ready to be seen on NASDAQ. The company is launching on the exchange through a convoluted merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), 26 Capital Acquisition Corp., and, provided everything goes according to plan, the new company will have a total equity value of $2.5 billion.

Okada Manila Hits NASDAQ

According to a joint press release from last Friday, Okada Manila and 26 Capital are forming a unique partnership to facilitate the launch on NASDAQ. Tiger Resort, Leisure & Entertainment Inc (TRLEI) is the owner of Okada (and also a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment Corp) and its parent company, Tiger Resort Asia Ltd (TRA), is entering a “reverse triangular merger” with 26 Capital. In turn, 26 Capital and TRLEI will become subsidiaries of Okada Manila International (OMI), which will be the entity that appears on the exchange. TRA will retain 80% of the share capital.

In making the announcement, TRLEI explained, “Considering this situation, the company has positioned the IR business as the core business of the company group and has decided [to list] OMI on the NASDAQ with the aim of further business expansion, increasing the company group value and diversifying financing methods and sources.” It added that, provided there aren’t any glitches or surprises along the way, OMI will be able to launch on NASDAQ by the end of next June.

Okada Rebounds from COVID-19

The pending NASDAQ launch was announced at the same time Okada provided the latest status of its financial health. TRLEI reported last Friday that the Okada Manila integrated resort in the Philippines saw gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $82.3 million in the third quarter of the year. This was substantially better than the quarterly average of $43.6 million it reported from April to December 2020. It’s also a significant gain since Okada Manila was shut down for close to two months because of COVID-19 during the period.

VIP table game improved 64.1% from a year earlier as the Okada Manila took in $43.8 million. Mass gaming jumped even more, gaining 191% with its total of $16.7 million. Electronic gaming machines added $21.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 94.2%. Total revenue for the company was $84.1 million, which resulted in an Adjusted Segment EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $8.7 million. This was a huge improvement over the $15.3 million loss incurred from April to December of last year.

Okada Manila will likely finish the year on a high note. Early last week, the Philippines announced that it was relaxing some health restrictions in and around Manila, with casinos now able to run at 30% of their normal capacities as of this past Saturday. The new policy also applies to certain hotels, which will also facilitate an increase in gaming revenue.