KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Genting Hong Kong Ltd (GHK) announced today that it is acquiring luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises Inc from Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha of Japan (NYK) for US$550 million (RM1.99 billion).

Hong Kong-listed GHK is a 17.8% associate of Genting Malaysia Bhd (fundamental: 2.4; valuation: 0.6), which is in turn a 49.3% subsidiary of Genting Bhd (fundamental: 2.1; valuation: 0.6).

Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman, CEO and acting president of GHK, said post-acquisition, the company will retain the existing management team and crew of Crystal Cruises. He said the group aims to add another ship to Crystal Cruises' fleet.

"Genting will provide financial resources and proven expertise in innovative ship design to build a new ship that will set the highest standard in luxury cruise ships, that together with Crystal’s six-star legendary service, will reinforce Crystal’s reputation as the world’s leading luxury cruise line for decades to come," Lim said in a statement.

Currently, Crystal Cruises has two award-winning vessels, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity, with an approximate total of 1,992 lower berths.

Genting closed 8 sen or 0.9% higher at RM8.94. Its market capitalisation was RM32.9 billion.

Meanwhile, Genting Malaysia rose 10 sen or 2.5% to RM4.17, bringing its market capitalisation to RM23.1 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)