A BRITISH national known for developing super yachts and founder of a retail loyalty building company appears to be behind Banwa Private Island, tagged “the most expensive resort in the world.”
Richard Graham Beattie, according to his own web site, “is the founder and Executive Chairman of TCC—the world’s leading exponent of retail loyalty building programs. Since the company’s inception in 1991, TCC has grown to become a truly global business with a turnover now approaching $1 billion.”
He also owns Aquos Yachts, which designed Big Fish and Star Fish, super yachts that caught the attention of the yachting world when they were developed in 2010 and 2012.
This ties in with claims of a number of industry sources who pointed to a “British national” as the real owner of Banwa, contrary to what the resort management earlier claimed. (See, “Former Aman exec, partners run ‘most expensive resort’,” in the BusinessMirror, May 23, 2019.)
Banwa Private Island Limited (BPIL), formerly called EcoResort Investments Limited, is a registered company in Hong Kong, according to Hong Kong’s companies registration site. Beattie is a resident of the special administrative region and is the director on record of Banwa, along with Aquos HK Limited. BPIL has a total issued and paid-up capital of HK$1.
Documents further show Aquos HK directors include Beattie; one Katherine Shiew Ling Tsui Huang, an Australian national; and ABP Corporate Services Ltd., a unit of The Asian Business Partner Co. Ltd., which was founded by Huang. ABP services clients which want to establish and expand in Asia, as per its web site.
In an e-mail to the BusinessMirror, Banwa Private Island General Manager Rochelle Kilgariff identified EcoResorts Development Corp. (ERDC) as the Philippine developer and owner of the island resort located in Roxas, Palawan. She confirmed that the resort took 10 years to develop, “and that in itself signals that the motivation for this project was never driven by a requirement for a quick return on investment. ERDC…was not willing to compromise quality for expediency. Everything had to be built according to an extremely high level of fit and finish.”
She also underscored that “ERDC wanted to ensure that during the development, the environment was not harmed. Hence, ERDC worked closely with the local government and various government agencies to ensure they understood its objectives and actively support its environmental and community initiatives. Taking the time to develop a resort of such level and quality without harming the environment naturally meant a long gestation period, but it was all worth it.”
ERDC is 99.99 percent owned by Hong Kong firm EcoResorts Investments Limited (renamed BPIL), according to papers filed with the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
ERDC, a real-estate company specializing in leasing and developing properties, was incorporated in May 2008, just a month after BPIL was set up in Hong Kong. The Philippine company has an authorized capital of P34.84 million, of which P8.71 million is paid up. The rest of the original incorporators with shares worth P100 each, are Filipinos Conchita I. Manabat, Manuel O. Faustino, Ophelia G. Jimenez, Leonora C. Ventura and Luz Bernardo.
Per the company’s latest general information sheet filed with the SEC, ERDC chairman and president is one Robert Eric Chappelhow, a British national, a director of UK management firm Aquos Creative Limited. The rest of the ERDC directors are Filipinos, namely Maria Feliza Janet M. Oquendo (director), a former manager of Aman Resorts and president of the environmental firm Aquos Foundation; lawyer Carlos Martin M. Tayag (director/corporate secretary) of Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles; hotelier Robert R. Horrigan (director/treasurer), also president of Aquos Management Inc. which runs Banwa resort; Lourdes Mary L. Iway (assistant corporate secretary), also a lawyer with Romulo Mabanta; and Aquos HK’s Huang (director).
After its much-publicized worldwide launch in March, the resort abruptly closed its doors to bookings after it was found lacking in DOT accreditation. (See, “No DOT accreditation for costliest resort,” in the BusinessMirror, May 21, 2019.)
Kilgariff declined to reveal the total amount of investments needed to develop the island resort, describing these only as “significant sums.”
Formerly known as Puerco Island, its last known listing on a real-estate site priced the 58,824-square-meter (14.53 acres) property at $1 million in 2003. One of its previous owners was Vincent Perez, former Philippines Energy Secretary. But he said in a text message: “I sold it a long time ago in the early 1990s.” He said he couldn’t remember the buyer’s name.
The island was subsequently renamed Kaliksi, before it became Banwa which means “community” in the old tongue of Palawan tribes. Its conversion from an agricultural land to a resort was approved by the Department of Agrarian Reform on March 14, 2011. According to the conversion order, the island was owned by Kaliksi Inc. and Aquospirit Inc., headed by one Leticia A. Belen, with ERDC as the developer.