Genting Berhad

[Thriftville]

Genting raises the stakes with Iskandar project
20 January 2010 , By Malaysian Insider

As it prepares to launch Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) sans its casino and theme park today, Genting Group is already looking to build another resort, a huge mall and an even “more interactive theme park” just across the Causeway in Iskandar Malaysia.

“We want visitors to Sentosa to come to our Malaysian resorts as well,” chief executive officer Lim Kok Thay told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday at the company’s 45th anniversary celebration.

The upcoming development, which expects to attract millions of visitors from Singapore when it gets off the ground in two years, will be located near the mid-point of the group’s operations in Pahang and Singapore.

Genting, Asia’s largest publicly traded casino operator, and its joint-venture partner US-based Simon Property Group have already invested an initial RM200 million in the Chelsea designer discount shopping complex in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor’s special economic development zone.

The 60 high-end brand shops in the Kulai mall — the first of its kind in the region — have already been fully taken up, and Genting is in the midst of planning a larger-scale development to capitalise on the expected surge in tourists from Singapore and locally, who they anticipate will be drawn to the 25-65 per cent discounts offered on designer labels.

Its proposed theme park and resort development will be centred around the mall, Lim said, adding that Genting has set aside an estimated 4,050 hectares for the project.

“We can make Iskandar a hub and offer tourists a complete holiday package,” Lim said, adding that the development may attract “millions of visitors” each year when it is completed in two years’ time.

Three times the size of Singapore, the special economic zone has seen billions of ringgit ploughed in by the government and is envisioned to be a future engine of growth.

Genting hopes many of the visitors will then travel on to its hilltop gambling resort in Genting Highlands, near Kuala Lumpur, which the company hopes will attract as many as 30 million visitors a year in five years’ time, Lim said.

During the celebrations, Genting revealed that it lists the opening of the US$4.4 billion (RM15 billion) RWS as its latest and 45th significant milestone since the incorporation of Genting Highlands Bhd in 1965.

Lim dismissed the notion that RWS would cannibalise its Malaysian operations. “It will grow the pie and if the two resorts work hand-in-hand, we will offer a more complete holiday (destination) for tourists from Asia.”

Media speculation has been rife that the Singapore government will issue RWS a casino licence before Chinese New Year. Though no concrete news has been forthcoming with regard to that, Lim yesterday confirmed that the RWS Universal Studios theme park will be opened next week.

He was also confident that the hotels in RWS (1,400 rooms in the first phase and another 400 rooms planned in the second phase) would in time enjoy a high occupancy of some 80 per cent — “otherwise we’ll be in trouble”.

The conglomerate — whose interests range from gaming to power, plantations and property — is sitting on a cash pile estimated at RM5 billion.

And Genting’s interests are not stopping within the narrow confines of the peninsula either.

Last year, Genting invested US$200 million in Las Vegas gaming company MGM Mirage — half in its bonds and half in a 3.2 per cent equity stake — and now it may be looking to venture further.

“If there are opportunities in the US, I am sure we will look at that. We do have great financial strength, so we can take on a large project,” Lim said, adding that the group aimed to become a global player.

The Genting Group comprises four listed companies, namely Genting Bhd, Genting Malaysia Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd and Genting Singapore PLC, with a combined market capitalisation of about RM85.4 billion at the end of December last year. — Business Times Singapore

[Thriftville]

Link
Thursday June 30, 2011
Genting UK gets licence

£120mil Resorts World at the NEC granted large casino premises permit

PETALING JAYA: Genting Bhd's British subsidiary, Genting UK, has been awarded a licence to operate a casino at the NEC in Birmingham, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

The company is also undertaking the development of a hotel, spa, multi-screen cinema, conference and banqueting centre and designer shopping outlets at the site.

Dubbed Resorts World at the NEC, it will be a 120mil (RM583.73mil) leisure and entertainment complex that will be a major attraction and provide both economic and employment benefits.

Resorts World At The NEC is a partnership between Genting Group and one of the UK's premier conference, exhibition and entertainment venue operators, The NEC Group.

[Image: p5-genting.JPG]
Aston Villa star striker Gabby Agbonlahor sporting the new club jersey sponsored by Genting UK.

Solihull Council said it had granted a large casino premises licence to Genting UK, which has said the whole complex could provide 1,700 jobs, according to the BBC report.

The casino and leisure complex still requires planning permission, according to the authority, while the overall plan also needs to gain a premises licence - for example, to cover the sale of alcohol. Genting UK, which trades as Genting Casinos, has anticipated that the complex development would provide more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs and more than 1,700 construction posts, according to the council.

Genting UK, which is the largest casino operator in Britain with over 40 casinos, was acquired by Genting Malaysia Bhd from its sister company, Genting Singapore plc, for 340mil (RM1.6bil) last October.

The acquisition is to complement its long term international expansion strategy and give it access to established casino brands and the extensive network of casinos already operating across Britain.

Genting UK also recently signed on as the main football club sponsor of English Premier League side Aston Villa.

OSK Research said in a report yesterday that despite the positive incremental contribution, the group's UK operation will still be relatively small as its back of the envelope calculation indicated that this single new “large casino” licence in the UK could potentially raise the group's earnings by roughly 2.3%.

It said that a single large casino in the UK has capacity for roughly 40 to 50 gaming tables and 150 slot machines only, compared with the 600-to 800-gaming table capacity and 1,600 slot machines that the new large scale integrated casino resorts in Asia possess. It is only expected to raise the group's UK casino operations table and slot machines capacity by roughly 13% and the group's total gaming table capacity, including Malaysia, by roughly 5.3%.

“Anyhow, contributions are only expected to come through in 2013 when the casino is completed and up and running,” OSK Research said.

The research maintains its “buy” call and RM4.10 fair value on Genting Malaysia. Despite the small incremental contribution by the group's various overseas ventures, the longer term cumulative contribution could be relatively significant when all its various overseas ventures come on stream over the next one to two years, it added.

Genting Malaysia is also making a presence in the US, having announced its plan for a “Resorts World Miami” in Florida last month after buying 13.9 acres for some US$236mil from US newspaper publisher, The McClatchy Co, via its subsidiary Bayfront 2011 Property LLC.

It was reported that the group was lobbying for a casino licence for this project.

This is its second venture in the US after the company won the bid to build a video lottery facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City in August last year.

Genting Malaysia saw its share price gain one sen to RM3.54 with 5.67 million shares changing hands yesterday.

[Thriftville]

Link
Compulsive gamblers place risky bets because they are 'superstitious'

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 3:41 PM on 30th June 2011


Compulsive gamblers place risky bets because they suffer from flawed reasoning and superstition, according to scientists.

The more impulsive the gambler, then the more likely he is to carry a lucky charm and explain away recent losses on bad luck.

Researchers from Cambridge University and Imperial College London compared 30 gamblers from the National Problem Gambling Clinic seeking treatment at a specialist clinic with 30 non-gamblers from the general population.
Superstitious: The most impulsive gamblers are more likely to carry a lucky charm and explain away recent losses on bad luck, according to a study

[Image: article-2009867-014BA98C00000578-42_468x324.jpg]
Superstitious: The most impulsive gamblers are more likely to carry a lucky charm and explain away recent losses on bad luck, according to a study

They asked the participants a series of financial questions designed to test impulsive behaviour.

These involved trade-offs between smaller amounts of money available immediately, versus larger amounts of money in the future - for instance, would you prefer £20 today or £35 in two weeks?.

The gamblers were significantly more likely to choose the immediate reward despite the fact that it was less money.


More...

* Why toddlers naturally gravitate to other children of their own ethnicity
* Why 'reckless' men are much more likely to be hit by lightning

Dr Luke Clark, from the University of Cambridge, said: 'The link between impulsivity and gambling beliefs suggests to us that high impulsivity can predispose a range of more complex distortions - such as superstitions - that gamblers often experience.

'Our research helps fuse these two likely underlying causes of problem gambling, shedding light on why some people are prone to becoming pathological gamblers.'

A questionnaire showed that gamblers were particularly impulsive during high or low moods, which are frequently cues that can trigger gambling sprees.
'High impulsivity can predispose a range of more complex distortions - such as superstitions - that gamblers often experience'

Aspects of the 'addictive personality' have been identified previously in studies of problem gambling.

The new finding in the British gamblers was that those with higher levels of impulsivity were also more susceptible to various errors in reasoning that occur during gambling, including an increase in superstitious rituals and blaming losses on such things as bad luck.

Like treatment-seeking gamblers elsewhere in the world, the group from the National Problem Gambling Clinic were predominantly male, and experienced a moderate rate of other mental health problems including depression and alcohol abuse.

Dr Clark added: 'There are promising developments in treatments for problem gambling such as psychological therapies and drug medications. We hope that our research will provide additional insight into the problem and inform future treatments.'

While gambling is a popular form of entertainment for many people, pathological gambling is a recognised psychiatric diagnosis affecting around 1 per cent of the UK population.

Symptoms include a loss of control over gambling, withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, and various negative

The findings are published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...z1QoJ3FsK0

[Thriftville]

Hey buddies, attached is a report by Credit suisse on the prospect of Iskandar project. Includes the agreement between Temasek and Khazanah, the companies that may benefit, etc.

[Thriftville]

Pandas headed for Vegas as Asian firms chase Chinese cash abroad

Link

[Image: casinorender_t618.png?ba5b5b122dd3d37cc1...c0d5bfa32a]

Malaysian casino operator Genting Berhad envisions red and gold pagodas and a panda exhibit on the 35-hectare plot of Las Vegas land it bought this week, a new gambling playground for rich Chinese moving their money overseas.

A 90-minute flight away, in San Francisco, China’s biggest property developer has formed a joint venture to develop two high-rise condominium towers that are likely to draw wealthy Chinese buyers. It is China Vanke Co. Ltd.’s first foray into the U.S. market, and probably not its last.

Combined, the two deals are worth about $1-billion (U.S.), which could rise to at least $3-billion as Genting builds out its resort, which is due to open in 2016. That’s just a fraction of the $102-billion in outbound investment from Asia-Pacific companies in 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data.

But it signals a strategic shift.

Instead of hunting for natural resources, the driving force behind many of Asia’s biggest foreign acquisitions over the past year, these companies are investing in the United States to cater to Chinese consumers abroad.

Beijing bars individuals from moving more than about $50,000 a year out of the country. Yet vast sums leak out illegally. Estimates vary widely on just how much, but research group Global Financial Integrity said it could have been as much as $472-billion in 2011 alone.

The money goes to places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, London and San Francisco, where a heavy flow of Chinese buyers has driven up property prices. But until the Genting and Vanke deals, there was little evidence that large Asian companies were chasing the cash to the United States.

“You have Chinese money sitting in U.S. houses and Chinese money sitting in U.S. banks. If you’re smart, you start setting up places for Chinese people to stay and things for them to buy,” said Derek Scissors, an economist at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, who tracks Chinese foreign investment.

Mr. Scissors said the Genting and Vanke deals represent another step in the progression of Chinese investment in the United States since the global financial crisis.

First, individual Chinese investors started pouring money into U.S. property in late-2009. Then, a couple of years later, Chinese property developers began scouring for deals, largely unsuccessfully. The Genting and Vanke transactions are early signs that Asian companies see ways to tap Chinese demand beyond China, something few U.S. firms seem to have recognized.

The property that Genting bought had been abandoned since 2008, and the deal is the biggest new investment on the Las Vegas Strip since then. In that time, China’s gambling capital of Macau has opened four new casinos – two of them built by U.S. gaming company Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Genting has casinos in cities such as Singapore, which is popular with Chinese visitors, but not in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub. The firm is not guaranteed success in Vegas, a market with thinner margins and tougher competition than in its power base in Singapore where it operates one of only two casinos.

Its arrival could spell trouble for casino rivals, too.

Ratings agency Fitch warned that Genting’s arrival was a “risk” for U.S. operators because its project will add 3,500 hotel rooms in a city where occupancy was flat last year and the average daily rate up a tepid 2.8 per cent.

“We believe the property will target high-end Asian customers, which has been the principal catalyst for gaming revenue growth on the Strip since 2010,” Fitch said, adding that high-end properties run by Wynn Resorts, Sands and others were “especially vulnerable to the increased competition from Genting.”

For Vanke, venturing into the United States makes sense now because Beijing is clamping down on property speculation at home. New restrictions announced on Friday may speed the flow of Chinese property investment abroad.

Vanke “will go anywhere mainland Chinese want to go,” said Jinsong Du, a property analyst at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. “Their target customer is not overseas Chinese. Their target customer is mainland Chinese who want to migrate to overseas, or have a home outside the country.”

Vanke president Yu Liang, however, said the company had no intention of building a Chinese community overseas. “What we are looking for is overseas resources and market, not Chinese immigrants. We place emphasis on the concept of harmony,” he said.

Other Asian companies might learn from the example set by Vanke and Genting.

Jonathan Galaviz, managing director at Galaviz and Co., a California-based research and strategic advisory firm, said real estate and hotel companies such as Singapore’s CapitaLand Ltd. and Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. run the risk of losing global relevance as they lack a U.S. presence.

In an e-mailed statement Sun Hung Kai said it aims for a balance between steady cash flow and fast asset turnover. “Geographically, Hong Kong remains our focus. The Group is also positive about the long-term outlook for the mainland and will continue to expand its business there.”

A spokeswoman for CapitaLand declined to comment.
“Companies like these, and others in Asia, need to also recognize they are investing in potentially overheated markets in mainland China – and elsewhere in Asia – and diversifying some asset holdings in America would be something smart to do,” Mr. Galaviz said

[greengiraffe]

This article highlights a dangerous fact - the substantial leakages from China - how much is left to support the bubble in China?

Little wonder why policy makers are eagerly restructuring its economy from an export oriented one to a domestically driven consumption based. They have to tap on the consumption ability of trapped locals who cant migrate overseas.