PhilWeb grows with PAGCOR acquisitions

PhilWeb Corp., the Philippines-based game technology company, is expanding in the Philippines with with Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp (PAGCOR) acquisitions. The company has purchased additional eGaming sites from the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp in a deal for cash and stock.

The company’s BigGame unit has acquired two sites from Golden Frontier Gaming: in Consolacion and Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu. The deal was worth $46,882 in cash and 394,322 PhilWeb shares. The shares were worth $37,841.

PhilWeb began beefing up its portfolio after it obtained an operating license last year. PAGCOR issued a provisional Certificate of Accreditation to the comoany to operate as an Electronic Gaming System (EGS) provider.

In October, PhilWeb was given a permanent license with the caveat that it could only operate 16 gaming outlets out of the company’s 34 locations. This past February, the firm saw its operations capabilities extended when PAGCOR authorised it to operate at an additional 21 sites across the country.

At the end of March, PhilWeb was operating 38 locations. Since then, it has added an additional 14 to bring its current total to 52.

PhilWeb was forced to close by PAGCOR in 2016. At the time, company founder and then-chairman Roberto Ongpin was seen as an “oligarch” by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, and was targeted as an example of the country’s gambling reformation. Despite attempts to stave off the denial of a license renewal, PAGCOR pulled the trigger and the company was shut down.

Gregorio Araneta III purchased 53.75 percent of the company from Ongpin, which helped to facilitate the license renewal. Araneta is a well-known member of the business community and serves on a number of boards. He is the president, chairman and CEO of Araneta Properties Inc., and the president of Araza Resources Corp. and Carmel Farms, Inc., among others. He is also the board chairman for several companies, including Autobus Transport Systems, Inc., Gamma Holdings Corp. and Carmel Development Corp. He and his family descend from Gregorio Araneta, who was the Secretary of Justice of the Philippine Republic at the turn of the 20th century.

Source: CalvinAyre.com