On Wednesday, two days after a Genting subsidiary won its bid for a full downstate New York casino licence, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Malaysia’s Genting Group to “negative”. The ratings agency cited continuing and pending capital investments in both New York and Singapore.
New York gaming regulators on Monday awarded Genting New York LLC a full-scale casino licence for Resorts World New York City in Queens borough. The subsidiary will invest $5.5 billion to turn the existing video lottery terminal facility into a full casino with up to 6,000 slot machines and 800 table games. It will pay $600 million upfront to secure a 30-year licence.
Meanwhile, Genting Singapore continues an ambitious US$5.3 billion expansion project at Resorts World Sentosa, to be complete in 2030. RWS 2.0, a “waterfront lifestyle complex” with two luxury hotels, a Minion Land theme park and other attractions, is expected to restore visitation to pre-Covid levels. In November 2024, the Singapore Gambling Regulatory Authority renewed RWS’ licence for just two years, instead of the usual three, due to “unsatisfactory” performance from 2021 through 2023.
GENM takeover bid reflects ‘increased risk appetite’
In addition, anticipating a New York win, Genting Bhd recently sought to privatise Genting Malaysia (GENM). In a filing, the company explained that control of the unit would give it “the financial strength and network to support the development” in New York.
By the 1 December takeover deadline, the parent managed to up its GENM stake from less than 50% to 73.13%. However, that was just short of the 75% threshold needed to privatise and delist the unit from Bursa Malaysia.
S&P questioned Genting’s “increased risk appetite”, adding that “such opportunistic behaviour reduces predictability of the group’s leverage, which could deteriorate due to event risk.
“Any attempt by Genting to privatise Genting Malaysia via additional debt to consolidate the US assets could further delay a recovery in leverage,” S&P continued. “And the group will need to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and deleveraging.”
S&P: Genting to double capex in 2026
S&P estimates that Genting’s total capex for 2026 will double the RM6 billion invested in 2025 and exceed RM8 billion annually through 2030. Under that scenario, it added, earnings are “unlikely to keep pace with spending”.
“We expect Genting’s discretionary cashflow to remain negative over the next three years,” S&P continued. “This will cause the group’s reported debt to rise toward RM35 billion by 2028, from RM21 billion in 2024. As such, Genting’s leverage could fall below 20% through 2027.”
Given these factors, S&P predicts the group will reduce dividends and continue its effort to offload land it owns on Biscayne Bay in Miami. Those moves may be insufficient, however, and “Genting Bhd will need to devise other means to reduce its debt,” S&P stated.
Genting also runs Resorts World Genting, its flagship property near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Resorts World Las Vegas; and more than 30 provincial casinos in the UK.
Marjorie Preston
Marjorie began her gaming career in 2007 and has focused on Asian gaming markets since 2020. Outside of work, she writes about travel and film and plays the drums.
S&P Global Ratings has lowered its outlook on Genting based on increased risk from billions in investments.