Philippine businessman Dennis A. Uy's PH Resorts Group has officially lost control of the Emerald Bay casino project in Cebu. The reason is that the company failed to repurchase the core asset from the Schumacher family-controlled China Bank within the deadline.
Emerald Bay was Uy's most ambitious gambling project, costing over $300 million and located on a 12.4-hectare waterfront plot valued at approximately 13.65 billion pesos, including hotels and casinos under construction.
However, as the repurchase option expired on March 31, 2025, the group failed to introduce strategic investors and was forced to remove the project from the balance sheet, resulting in a net loss surge of 1260% in the first half of the year, reaching 6.7 billion pesos, with net operating revenue also falling by 12.7%. Currently, PH Resorts only retains the boutique resort Donatela Resort & Sanctuary on Panglao Island, Bohol, with a capital shortfall of 5.83 billion pesos.
In fact, as early as 2023, China Bank had taken over Emerald Bay through debt restructuring and provided a repurchase option of 5.74 billion pesos. The Schumacher family explicitly refused to extend the period in May this year, completely ousting PH Resorts. This adjustment resulted in a one-time write-off of 13.65 billion pesos in assets and 8.6 billion pesos in related liabilities and transaction costs.
The market's attention has now shifted to the potential "white knight" — EEI Corporation supported by Yu Xin Group. This company had prepaid 300 million pesos to its parent company Udenna in January this year, which was interpreted by outsiders as a possible signal of taking over the project. Affected by the negative news, PH Resorts' stock price fell by 1.56% to 0.189 pesos, with a market value of only 1.4 billion pesos, as the group faces significant pressure to restructure its business strategy.
