Lims sell 8.8% of Genting S’pore

Exercise raises RM1.47bil for the family

PETALING JAYA: Family trusts of the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong placed out their entire direct stake of 853.88 million shares or 8.8% of Genting Singapore Plc at 72 cents a share yesterday.

That raised S$615mil or RM1.47bil cash for the family. Following the sale of their direct stake, the Lim family’s interest in Genting Singapore is held through Genting Bhd which owns a direct stake of 54.4% of the Singapore company.

In an announcement to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) yesterday, Genting Singapore said Golden Hope Ltd and Lakewood Sdn Bhd, both ultimately held by discretionary trusts established for the benefit of certain members of the family of the late Tan Sri Lim, sold the shares at a 9.4% discount to the stock’s volume-weighted average price over the last 10 days.

Genting Singapore had a market capitalisation of S$8.5bil and it is developing Resorts World at Sentosa in Singapore. Its unit, Genting UK, is the largest casino operator in the UK.

The divestment of the direct stakes of Golden Hope and Lakewood simplifies the shareholding, and broadens the institutional shareholding base of Genting Singapore, the company said.

On the SGX, Genting Singapore fell 15.5 cents or 18% to 71 cents yesterday, 1 cent below the placement price. It is not unusual for a stock to drop when there is a placement of its shares.

It is a good price for the family to sell the Genting Singapore shares which are at their highest price in over two years. Furthermore, the price had doubled from this year’s low of 41.5 cents in February to a high of 88.5 cents on Monday.

There is also speculation the Lims raised the cash in an effort to purchase MGM Mirage’s 50% stake in MGM Grand Macau, a joint venture with Pansy Ho, daughter of Stanley Ho, one of Macau’s biggest casino operators.

MGM Mirage was told by New Jersey gaming regulators last week that its partner in Macau was unsuitable and it should “disengage” itself from that partner.

Stanley Ho had made an initial investment in MGM Grand Macau, and he was suspected of ties with organised crime, which he had denied.

It may be difficult for Genting Singapore to acquire that stake in Macau as the company was questioned by Singaporean authorities of a proposed joint venture with Stanley Ho when it bid for the integrated resort (IR) project in Singapore. Genting Singapore pulled out of that joint venture before it secured the IR project.

For that reason, it was speculated the Lim family raised cash to directly bid for MGM Grand Macau instead of through Genting Singapore.