GGRAsia – GEN Malaysia seeks to streamline U.K. gaming business

GEN Malaysia seeks to streamline U.K. gaming business

Oct 02, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck, World

Casino operator Genting Malaysia Bhd has entered into an agreement to acquire all the issued share capital of Genting Alderney Ltd for a total cash consideration of GBP7.20 million (US$10.9 million), the firm announced in a filing on Thursday. The company said it expects the acquisition to help streamline its gaming business in the United Kingdom.

Genting Alderney operates online casinos and poker games in the United Kingdom. The company is licensed to manufacture, supply, install or adapt gambling software, to operate casinos and to act as a betting intermediary, according to Thursday’s filing.

Genting Alderney is currently owned by RWI International Investments Ltd, in which Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd – the parent company of Genting Malaysia – has a 50 percent stake. Genting group chairman and chief executive Lim Kok Thay owns the other half of RWI International.

Genting Malaysia operates casino properties in Malaysia, the United States, the Bahamas and the United Kingdom, in the latter case via its subsidiary Genting UK Plc. Genting Malaysia said it plans to finance the acquisition of Genting Alderney “using internally-generated funds”.

“Genting Malaysia group is optimistic about the future outlook of the U.K. online gaming in the long term as the operating environment in the U.K. gradually strengthens and the economy improves moderately,” the casino operator said in the filing to Bursa Malaysia.

“Following the proposed acquisition, the operations of Genting Alderney and Genting UK are expected to be streamlined as an integrated online, mobile and retail gaming business under the focus of a single management in order to deliver a seamless multi-channel customer experience in the U.K.,” said Genting Malaysia.

Genting Alderney recorded a net loss of GBP3.72 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2014, according to Thursday’s filing. In August, Genting Malaysia posted a profit of MYR230.92 million (US$54.66 million) for the second quarter of 2015, down by 9.2 percent year-on-year.