Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 14): Genting Bhd's 50% indirectly-owned associate Resorts World Inc Pte Ltd is buying the entire stake in cruise trademarks owner Star Market Holdings Ltd for US$3.5 million (RM15.84 million) from Genting Hong Kong Ltd's (Genting HK) 100%-owned subsidiary Star Cruises Asia Holding Ltd, in a planned transaction that aims to, among others, consolidate the ownership of such trademarks and intellectual property rights under a single entity.

"Star Market jointly owns, with an affiliate of Resorts World, certain trademarks and intellectual property rights.

"The disposal [of Star Market] is driven by a commercial objective to consolidate the ownership of such trademarks and intellectual property rights, and to realise an asset of the group (Genting HK) for the benefit of its creditors," Genting HK said in a statement to The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Ltd (HKEX) on Tuesday evening (Sept 13).

The company said that its joint provisional liquidators considered the terms and conditions of the disposal to be on normal commercial terms, fair and reasonable, and in the interest of the company, its creditors and shareholders as a whole.

After Covid-19 lockdowns battered the hospitality and leisure cruise industry, the Hong Kong-listed company is currently under restructuring due to severe financial difficulties.

Genting HK was slapped with a winding-up petition and the appointment of joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) to maximise the value and returns for creditors of the company.

In an HKEX filing dated July 19, Genting HK said that its secured creditors have taken enforcement actions over “substantially all” of the group’s vessel assets.

“Creditor recovery actions include certain of the group’s secured creditors taking enforcement actions over substantially all of the vessel assets of the group. The JPLs have been cooperating with these secured creditors and other relevant stakeholders to solicit potential investors who may be interested in acquiring the vessels and other assets of the group to maximise the recoveries for the group’s creditors.

“The sale processes for these assets are in varying stages of completion,” it said. 

Meanwhile, due to continued liquidity constraints as well as the lack of an audit committee, Genting HK is unable to publish its 2021 unaudited and annual results. The company’s shares have been suspended from trading since Jan 18.

At the noon break on Wednesday, shares in Genting were down three sen or 0.66% at RM4.52, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM17.52 billion.

Edited ByLam Jian Wyn
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