Gaming operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd has secured a loan facility of up to EUR606.8 million (US$825.3 million) to finance the construction of a new cruise ship.
The company said in a filling to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday that the loan was secured through indirectly wholly owned subsidiary Chinese Percept Ltd.
The mandated lead arrangers and original lenders are Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DNB Bank ASA – Singapore Branch and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH.
German shipbuilder Meyer Werft GmbH will build the vessel, which will have 1,682 passenger cabins and a price tag of EUR697.2 million. The delivery date is October 2017, according to a February filing from Genting Hong Kong, which did not directly state whether the ship would include gaming facilities. The company said in the same filling it expected to fund the construction of the ship by a combination of internal resources and external financing.
Genting Hong Kong owns Star Cruises, which operates casino cruises in the Asia Pacific region. The company also owns casino resort Resorts World Manila, in a joint venture with Philippines-based Alliance Global Group Inc.
Genting Hong Kong also has a 31.35 percent stake in U.S.-listed Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, but the company announced earlier this year it plans to sell it.
Genting Hong Kong is a subsidiary of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd, which has gaming operations in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Meyer Werft is already building another similar-sized cruise ship for Genting Hong Kong, to be delivered by October 2016. The company said the construction of the two new ships “is in line with the group’s long-term strategy in modernising and expanding its fleet for continuing business development and also to strengthen the group’s market penetration in the Asia Pacific region”.
The new cruise ship “will be designed to cater for the unique demands of Asian clientele, in particular, [those from] Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand”, Genting Hong Kong stated.
