GGRAsia – Genting group says prepping Japan casino licence bid

Genting group says prepping Japan casino licence bid

Apr 10, 2018 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Casino investor Genting Bhd has expressed optimism that Japan’s Integrated Resorts Implementation Bill will be tabled during this year’s parliamentary calendar. The Malaysian group is also “diligently preparing” for the eventual bidding process for gaming licences in Japan.

Such statements came from the annual report of 2017 from Genting Berhad, the parent of Genting Singapore Plc, the operator of the Resorts World Sentosa casino resort in Singapore.

“Many global gaming operators have pronounced their very keen interest to bid, and Genting Singapore will be facing fierce competition for the limited number of licences,” the parent’s annual report stated.

The document also mentioned Genting Singapore’s raising of a total principal amount of JPY20 billion (US$177 million) in October 2017, via publicly-offered Japanese yen-denominated bonds. The instruments – with a maturity of five years – will pay a coupon of 0.669 percent per annum, and have October 24, 2022 as their maturity date.

“The funds are earmarked to support its corporate activities in Japan including preparatory works in anticipation of the passage of the Japan Integrated Resort Execution [Implementation] Bill and bidding for gaming licences in Japan,” the Genting Bhd annual report noted.

Investment analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang, of Maybank IB Research, said in a Monday note that Genting Singapore would “consider expanding into other markets (e.g. Japan)” on the basis of a “projected internal rate of return greater than 15 percent and group returns on equity return to greater than 10 percent”.

Japan’s cabinet is to seek to submit the Integrated Resorts Implementation Bill to the country’s parliament on April 27, the Kyodo news agency reported last week. Such a move might enable the governing coalition in Japan – the Liberal Democratic Party and its partner Komeito – to secure passage of the measure before the end of the current ordinary parliamentary session on June 20. The country’s legislative calendar usually also includes a so-called extraordinary session of parliament, typically running from the early autumn until December.