GGRAsia – MGM talked to Lims re GEN Singapore takeover: Bloomberg

MGM talked to Lims re GEN Singapore takeover: Bloomberg

Jul 15, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck

United States-based casino operator MGM Resorts International recently approached Malaysian entrepreneurs the Lim family expressing interest in a takeover of Genting Singapore Ltd, reported Bloomberg, citing sources it did not identify.

The talks did not lead to an agreement, added the news outlet. Any such deal would need local regulatory approval, Bloomberg cited the sources as saying.

According to those people, other potential suitors have also made preliminary study of a takeover of Genting Singapore. The casino firm has a market capitalisation of SGD9.25 billion (US$6.60 billion). Malaysia-based Genting Bhd, backed by the Lim family, controls 53 percent of Genting Singapore, according to the report.

Genting Singapore runs the Resorts World Sentosa casino resort (pictured) in Singapore, as part of a casino duopoly in the city-state, alongside Marina Bay Sands, run by a unit of U.S.-based Las Vegas Sands Corp.

MGM Resorts is the majority owner – with a circa 56 percent stake – in Macau casino operator MGM China Holdings Ltd. The latter runs MGM Macau, on the city’s peninsula, and MGM Cotai in the city’s newer casino district.

Bill Hornbuckle, chief executive and president of MGM Resorts, was on record recently as saying Macau would “forever be” the world’s largest single-jurisdiction casino gaming market.

The Singapore Tourism Board said on Thursday it expected a surge in foreign visitors in the second half of this year. Singapore started opening up in April, after adopting a ‘living with Covid-19’ strategy that treats the virus as endemic, rather than as something that can be eradicated.

In May, Genting Singapore reported a net profit of SGD40.4 million (US$28.8 million) for the first quarter of 2022, up 17.3 percent from the previous quarter. It represented a 16.9-percent increase in year-on-year terms.

Genting Singapore has a SGD4.5-billion spending commitment to the Singapore authorities – announced in April 2019 – to expand Resorts World Sentosa.

According to the corporate website of Genting Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa has more than 550 play tables, offering a selection of more than 13 types of game, and more than 2,400 slots and electronic table games. The property has circa 1,600 hotel rooms currently.