CASINO developer-operator Genting Singapore is turning to its shareholders to raise $1.63 billion in the second biggest rights issue here so far this year. Unveiling the major cash call yesterday, Genting said its $6.59 billion Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) is ‘on track, both in terms of project costs and timing, for a soft opening in early 2010′.
The proceeds ‘will strengthen the company’s financials and put us in a strong position to tap strategic opportunities’, said Genting Singapore’s managing director Justin Tan.
However, analysts suggest the funds will also come in handy after earlier cost overruns at the RWS, one of Singapore’s two integrated resorts. The company is offering shareholders one rights share for every five existing shares held at cost of 80 cents apiece. The offer price represents a 32.8 per cent discount to Tuesday’s closing price of $1.19 when it was last traded – a record high. The stock has rallied 70 per cent since the start of July.
This is the second time Genting has sought funds from shareholders in the past two years or so, after it raised about $2 billion in a rights issue in August 2007. Genting Singapore is a unit of Malaysian gaming giant Genting Berhad, which owns 54 per cent of Genting Singapore and has pledged to subscribe to one billion rights shares. Continue reading
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