Genting Hong Kong is selling 50 percent of a planned luxury hotel in Macau to offset some of the damage the Covid pandemic is wreaking on the company’s core cruise ship business.
The buyer, a Macau-based investor named Ao Mio Leong, is paying a reported HK$750 million (US$96.7 million) for a half-interest in Genting Macau, the Genting HK subsidiary which is developing Resorts World @ Macau, as the hotel is called, in the city’s Nam Van waterfront district.
The property does not have a gaming license but is expected to apply for permission from the Macau government to add a casino.
In announcing the sale, Genting HK said it will accomplish a twofold purpose by reducing its funding commitments to the project and generating badly needed cash while it maps a pandemic recovery strategy that has all its assets outside the cruise ship holdings under review.
In August, the company announced it was suspending payments to creditors to further conserve cash and was seeking additional financing with the help of parent Genting Group, which owns 76 percent of its Hong Kong-listed shares. Construction of the property has also ceased
In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Genting HK said the sale “will increase the liquidity of the group, with the proceeds being used for general working capital, thereby enabling layup of the cruise ships in its fleet which are not in operation as well as the ongoing operation of those cruise ships that continue to sail, in addition to funding the group’s cruise-related and other operations.”
