Chinabank sees 'challenging' 2026; no rush to sell Emerald Bay property

China Banking Corp. has received several offers for the site of the stalled Emerald Bay Hotel and Casino project in Cebu, but there is no urgency to sell as bids have yet to meet its price expectation, a top official of the company said.

Chinabank chairman Hans Sy said the bank believes that the property’s value will rise, and is prepared to negotiate but a sale will only proceed at the right price: “We felt that it could cut a little bit more.”

“I know our value will go up, so I said no need to rush. There are offers, we’ll negotiate, we get a price that we find that is good, then we sell,” he said in a recent interview.

This comes as Chinabank in May last year said it will open up the property for sale after giving Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s PH Resorts Group Holdings (PHR) over a year to repurchase the property.

The property was sold by PHR — through its subsidiary Lapulapu Leisure Inc. (LLI) — to Chinabnk in 2023 as part of a debt restructuring agreement, as it had to settle a P3.1-billion loan.

Under the agreement, PHR would lease back the land and was given an option to repurchase the property, but such option expired in March 2025. Chinabank chose not to renew.

The land was set to host the Emerald Bay, planned to have 7,585 square meters of aggregate gaming floor area and a five-star hotel with approximately 838 rooms. It was targeted to have a soft opening in March 2022, but was stalled due to difficulties on labor and delivery of materials due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among those that previously expressed intent to invest in the project are AppleOne Properties Inc., Bloomberry Resorts Inc., and the latest being Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc., but such parties have since exited.

Given the current conditions, Sy said he expects 2026 to be a “challenging” year, but sees opportunities for the bank to expand its market share, with a focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and consumers.

“We’re very positive despite the current situation. Of course it’s going to be very challenging, but you know us. We’ve been trained. The more it’s challenging, the more opportunities there are to expand your market share,” he said.

“There’s opportunity here in the Philippines, there’s still so many percent that are unbanked, so much opportunity. That’s why we’re now focusing on SMEs and all those things… I know it’s a lot of work, but those are better opportunities than working with such a big entity. I don’t want to be putting all eggs in one basket,” he added.

Sy said he is also keen on the renewable energy sector, but is monitoring the industry given the recent controversies.

“Me I’m very excited actually with the renewables. That’s an area that I see big opportunities for the country,” he said.

“We are quite open but ‘yun nga, we also have to see how the government supports this thing. Also, as you know, there’s some big controversy going on in this area. We’re watching it also, but hopefully it’s not as bad,” he added.

This comes as the Department of Energy (DOE) slapped P24 billion in penalties to Solar Philippines, the company founded by Batangas 1st District representative Leandro Leviste, after the termination of over 11,000 megawatts of contracts in the past two years due to the company’s failure to deliver on its production commitments.

The House committee on legislative franchises is scheduled to look into the alleged franchise issues granted by Congress to Leviste’s solar power business today, with the probe focusing on what went wrong and if there were any violations. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News