NagaCorp says on track to repay fully its 2024 notes

Oct 27, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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NagaCorp Ltd, operator of NagaWorld (pictured), a casino resort monopoly in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, says it will have “sufficient” capital to repay its US$472.2-million outstanding notes, maturing in July 2024.

The company had “cash and bank balances” of US$324 million as of October 17, it stated in a Thursday filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Last week the casino firm said it got a loan of US$80 million, at 8.0-percent annual interest. The lender is ChenLipKeong Capital Ltd, a company controlled by The Sakai Trust, a family trust established by Chen Lip Keong. Mr Chen is the controlling shareholder and senior chief executive of NagaCorp.

“The loan of US$80 million plus the group’s cash and bank balances of US$324 million – with an aggregate amount of US$404 million – is sufficient for the full repayment of the 2024 notes given the current rate and speed of cash generation of the group,” stated NagaCorp in Thursday’s filing.

NagaCorp reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$215.4 million for the first nine months of 2023. The figure was up 17.4 percent from the prior-year period.

Moody’s Investors Service said in a recent note that the loan of up to US$80 million clinched by NagaCorp was a “credit positive”, as it would address the 2024 maturity of the firm’s outstanding notes.

But the ratings agency observed that NagaCorp remained “exposed to refinancing risk” regarding generating “sufficient free cash flow to repay the 2024 notes”. That would in likelihood depend on a sustained recovery in earnings, and “low discretionary spending”, Moody’s said.

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