Lim Kok Thay, executive chairman Genting Bhd., speaks at the opening of Resorts World Sentosa casino in Singapore, on Feb. 14, 2010.
© 2010 Bloomberg Finance LP
Genting—the energy-to-palm oil conglomerate controlled by Malaysian billionaire Lim Kok Thay—is buying the remaining shares in Genting Malaysia that it does not own for 6.7 billion ringgit ($1.6 billion) to consolidate its global casino and hospitality businesses.
The Bursa Malaysia-listed company will acquire about 2.9 billion shares or 50.6% of Genting Malaysia for 2.35 ringgit cash per share and delist it from the stock exchange, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Genting Malaysia jumped 8.9%, while shares of its parent climbed 3.9% in early morning trading in Kuala Lumpur.
The deal will be financed from a combination of loans and internal funds. The company hasn’t disclosed the timeline of when it will complete the deal.
Gaining full ownership of Genting Malaysia would help strengthen the group’s finances and bankroll major projects such as a possible $5.5 billion casino project in New York’s Queens borough should it win a new gaming license. The group has been expanding its footprint in the U.S. and currently operates casinos in New York and Las Vegas.
In February this year, Lim stepped down from his role as group CEO of Genting after two decades and stayed on as executive chairman. The transition comes amid weaker contributions from its casinos in Singapore and the U.S. Genting’s 2024 net profit fell 11% to 2 billion ringgit from a year earlier.
The transition is part of succession planning at one of Malaysia’s biggest conglomerates that was founded in 1965 by Kok Thay’s late father Lim Goh Tong, who realized a vision to build a mountain top casino resort in Genting Highlands, about 55 kilometers north of Kuala Lumpur. Today, the group owns and operates casino resorts in the Bahamas, Malaysia, Singapore, and the U.S.. It also has interests in energy, power generation, real estate, life sciences and biotechnology.
With a net worth of $1.8 billion according to Forbes’ real-time data, Lim is one of the wealthiest in Malaysia. He has steered Genting’s expansion both overseas and into new businesses, including energy, real estate and biotech. The group is spending S$6.8 billion ($5.1 billion) to upgrade Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore that will add 700 rooms across two new hotels and a new theme park attractions.