Lotte Tour refinances US$540mln loan on Dream Tower

Dec 04, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Lotte Tour Development Co Ltd, controller of the Jeju Dream Tower resort with foreigner-only casino (pictured) in Jeju, South Korea, announced on Friday refinancing of approximately KRW700 billion (US$539.6 million) in borrowings.

A filing that day to the Korea Exchange said the exercise was a “maturity extension for the funds raised to the development and operation of Jeju Dream Tower casino resort”.

A representative at Lotte Tour Development clarified to GGRAsia by telephone, that such extension was for one year, to November 2024. The filing itself stated that the refinancing raised its short-term borrowing by KRW10 billion, bringing it to KRW710-billion.

A KRW700-billion loan raised in November 2020 had a three-year term, with maturity on November 30, 2023.

In April, the firm said it was in talks to refinance that loan with four to five major South Korean financial institutions.

In another Friday filing, Lotte Tour said November casino sales were KRW18.01 billion, down 9.0 percent from October, but up 445.7 percent year-on-year. Table-game sales were KRW16.15 billion, down 12.8 percent sequentially, while machine-game sales were KRW1.86 billion, up 45.3 percent on October’s.

November casino table drop was KRW116.90 billion, down 18.5 percent month-on-month.

The total casino table drop for the first 11 months of 2023 was just under KRW1.15 trillion, up 162.8 percent year-on-year.

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