Will Lim Kok Thay dip into his own pocket and rescue ailing Genting Hong Kong?
That is a question that many who follow the Malaysian billionaire’s business moves are asking.
Genting Hong Kong is a small part of a much larger Genting-branded casino, hotel, real-estate and palm oil business empire controlled by Lim.
Apart from his 76% stake in Genting Hong Kong, Lim holds 44.8% in flagship Genting Bhd, which controls 49.5% of Genting Malaysia, 52.7% of Genting Singapore and 55.4% of Genting Plantations, according to Genting’s 2020 annual report.
He reportedly has a host of other business interests that are held by his private investment vehicles.
Given the absence of cross-shareholdings, there will be no direct impact from Genting Hong Kong on the other Genting-listed entities, analysts said.
Nevertheless, losing Genting Hong Kong — in a region where failing in business is culturally frowned upon — will probably hurt.
That is why so many are waiting to see what Lim will do.
Cruise industry executives believe that if he decides to save his cruise business, his focus will be on rescuing Dream Cruises, a premium Asian brand that operates three large modern ships.
Given Genting Hong Kong’s huge debt, the most logical solution would be for Lim to form another vehicle that buys Dream and its ships from the liquidators, then let everything else fall by the wayside.
Star Cruises, once the biggest, most promising cruise brand in Asia, has suffered from investment neglect for decades as attention turned first to building up Norwegian Cruise Line in the early 2000s, and then Dream, Crystal and its German shipyards from 2015 onwards.
Today, Star Cruises is left as a market bottom feeder, with four smaller cruise ships built in the early 1990s that may struggle to find trading buyers in a market in which younger vessels of a similar size are being sold for recycling.
A senior Miami-based cruise industry executive suggested to TradeWinds that should a buyer for US luxury brand Crystal not be found, its assets would be sold off piecemeal, with banks perhaps assuming control of the new 20,500-gt expedition cruise ship Crystal Endeavor (built 2021).
As for the giant Global Dream under construction at MV Werften, court-appointed administrator Christoph Morgen told German media that he is exploring the option of selling the ship to another operator if Genting is unable to take delivery. The shipyards, he added, would be sold off separately.
