Japan’s 76 year old billionaire Kazuo Okada’s fight for justice in the Philippines rumbles on with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission keen to find out the latest position with Okada who’s taking action against those who forced him out of own company.
Okada’s Near Miss to Success:
Okada, also a keen art collector, founded a coin-operated arcade game for kids in 1969 and formed a company called Universal Lease. At the end of the same year, he visited Las Vegas and left with a plan to produce slot machines. This proved a successful venture for Okada who introduced slot machines ‘near-miss’ features which helped popularize his products in Las Vegas. During the 1990s Okada’s machines played a massive role in Japan’s booming slot machine world.
Okada’s $2.4 Billion Manila Casino Project:
In 2000 Okada met Steve Wynn and later became a player in the Wynn Group with a $380 million investment. In 2005 Wynn opened their first Wynn Resort Casino in Las Vegas and followed that up a year later with the opening of Wynn’s Resort Casino in Macau. After nearly a decade of working closely with Steve Wynn Okada decided to go it alone in the Philippines when Wynn decided not to be part of a casino project in Manila’s Entertainment City. Okada formed a local Manila company called Tiger Resort to handle the $2.4 billion resort casino project which went live at the end of December 2016.
Missing Millions – Fingers Point at Okada:
In 2017 the tide turned the wrong way for Okada with accusations, from Okada Holdings Universal Entertainment, related to missing millions of dollars. This resulted in Okada being removed from his leadership role.
Tiger Resort – Back Door Move:
Whilst Okada’s engaged in Hong Kong court battles, to try and clear his name and regain his leadership role with Okada Holding, The Philippines SEC need a clearer picture about what’s going on as Tiger Resort are trying to acquire Asiabest. This is a strategic move, by Tiger Resort, as the company tries to gain entry to the Philippine Stock Exchange through the back door. The SEC has requested that Tiger Resort file a new offer with full details about the dispute with Okada. This move is to try and avert any negative impacts, for Asiabest shareholders and other investors, which might occur as a result of Okada’s legal proceedings in Hong Kong.
One Asiabest shareholder complained to the SEC that the deal seemed to be progressing, without full details related to Okada being disclosed, whilst some of Asiabest major investors have already sold their shares.
