Belle Declares Special Cash Dividend
Manila—(PHStocks)—Belle Corp.‘s (PSE: BEL) Board of Directors approved on January 27, 2015 the declaration of a special cash dividend of Eighteen Centavos (PhP0.18) per share, for a total special dividend payment to its common shareholders of approximately PhP1.9 billion, payable on 9 March 2015 to shareholders of record as of 10 February 2015. In the same meeting, the Board of Directors also approved a Share Buyback Program, whereby the Company’s management was given authority to buy into its treasury Belle Corporation shares up to a total cost of PhP 1 Billion.
Belle’s principal assets include land and buildings located at PAGCOR Entertainment City in Paranaque City, which are being leased on a long-term basis to Philippine entities controlled by Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, (MCE). This property is the site of the City of Dreams Manila gaming and resort operations, which encompasses 6.2 hectares of land more than 30 hectares in building gross floor area.
Belle realized revenues from the lease to MCE of approximately PhP1.3 billion during 2013, and more than PhP 1.2 billion during the first nine months of 2014. Belle will also be realizing a share in earnings from City of Dreams’ gaming operations through its 78.7%-owned subsidiary, Premium Leisure Corp. (PSE: PLC), which has an operating agreement with MCE. City of Dreams Manila soft-opened on 14 December 2014 and scheduled its grand launch on 2 February 2015. It includes of approximately 2 hectares of gaming space, more than 900 hotel rooms operated under three hotel brands (namely Crown, Hyatt, and Nobu), the DreamPlay indoor amusement park, and approximately 2 hectares of restaurant and retail space.
Belle also owns significant real estate assets in and around Tagaytay City, a temperate mountain resort about 90 minutes south of Manila overlooking scenic Taal Lake and Mount Makiling. These assets consist of premium properties for sale and approximately 800 hectares of land held for future development. which are near two exclusive world-class golf clubs and one country club built by the Company.
