Genting Group Chairman and CEO Lim Kok Thay says the company will look at listing in the United States sooner rather than later amid rising confidence in the US market and Thursday’s launch of US$4.3 billion Resorts World Las Vegas.
The broad topic of Genting’s US ambitions was discussed at length during an interview with Bloomberg TV in the midst RWLV’s opening celebrations, with Lim confirming that listing was now considered a high priority.
“As the numbers pick up and when investor confidence returns, that is something we will seriously look at in terms of consolidating our US investment and then seeking a listing,” he said. Aside from RWLV, Genting’s US interests include Resorts World Catskills via Genting Malaysia’s stake in Empire Resorts, Resorts World Casino New York City and a plot of land in Miami where it hopes to develop an integrated resort should legislation one day pass in its favor.
“Now that we are open, we are eagerly waiting for the first 30 days’ results which will bring us to the end of the quarter and that will give us tremendous clarity on the timing of an IPO,” Lim continued.
The Genting patriarch also expressed strong confidence in the trajectory of the US market post-COVID, revealing that early bookings at RWLV were outstripping past projections.
“In terms of lockdowns I suppose there was unmet demand as people had stayed home for so long, and now the increase in vaccination and falling cases have given consumers the confidence to spend again,” he said.
“In terms of our bookings, with our great partner Hilton, we are looking at fantastic numbers over the 4 July holiday. We have ADR’s that we have not seen even before the pandemic. In terms of our budget, we are confident that maybe we will even beat our plan.”
On the timing of opening, Lim added, “The large investment was made sometime ago when we acquired what we see as the best piece of real estate on the Las Vegas Boulevard, and when the economy slowed and Covid hit, we were fortunate we didn’t have to pause our construction work.
“Now as we are coming out of it, we are very well placed.”
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