Philippine listed company Belle Group plans to privatize its gaming subsidiary Premium Leisure (PL) Corp. Belle Group intends to make a tender offer for all of Premium Leisure’s outstanding common shares with the purpose of applying for Premium Leisure’s “voluntary delisting” from the Main Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange, according to documents filed on Monday.

The action, which was approved by Belle's board on Monday, is "subject to a valuation study of Premium Leisure's shares" and "the issuance of a fairness opinion by an independent third party," according to the filing.

Premium Leisure is an investor in City of Dreams Manila, a casino resort in the Philippine capital operated by a unit of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. Premium Leisure earns a portion of City of Dreams Manila's gaming revenue through one of its subsidiaries, Dream Manila.

Premium Leisure also operates lottery operations through Pacific Online Systems Corp.

Belle said investment bank First Metro Investment Corp has been involved "in conducting valuation studies and issuing fairness opinion reports."

It added that the tender offer price, timing and other terms and conditions "shall be determined and finalized upon receipt and acceptance of the fairness opinion report by Belle's board of directors".

Data from the Philippine Exchange showed Premium Leisure's public float was 20.1%, "slightly above the 20% requirement," Maybank IBG Research noted in a memo on Tuesday.

Premium Leisure said in a separate filing that it had voluntarily requested a trading halt in its shares on Monday "in order to allow the investing public equal access to and consideration of this information".

Premium Leisure said in its own filing that its board of directors "approved" the voluntary delisting of Premium Leisure shares from the Philippine Stock Exchange at a special meeting on Monday.

Premium Leisure said the action is "subject to Belle's successful tender offer and compliance with the Philippine Stock Exchange's voluntary delisting requirements."

"Belle will act as a supporter of Premium Leisure's voluntary delisting," it added.

Belle Group's share of casino revenue from its City of Dreams gaming operations in Manila rose 49.9% year-on-year in 2023 to nearly 2.34 billion pesos ($41.7 million).