Genting Proposes RM1.25bn Rights Issue to Repay Debt as Maybank Warns More May Follow

Genting Berhad wants RM1.25 billion, approximately $306 million, from shareholders to pay down borrowings that have climbed to RM45.25 billion. The Lim family has committed its 45% share; the rest is not yet underwritten, and Maybank Investment Bank says this may not be the last call on investors.

• Genting Berhad has proposed a renounceable rights issue to raise about RM1.25 billion, approximately $306 million, with RM800 million earmarked to repay borrowings due within 12 months, according to its 9 October Bursa Malaysia announcement
• Kien Huat Realty, Kien Huat International and Dato' Indera Lim Keong Hui, who hold 45.10% between them, have given irrevocable undertakings to take up their full entitlements; underwriting for the remaining shares has not yet been arranged
• The issue price and entitlement ratio are not fixed; the board intends a discount of 25% to 30% to the theoretical ex-rights price, and illustrates one new share for every four at RM1.30
• Maybank Investment Bank cut the stock from buy to sell and said it "cannot rule out more equity fundraising efforts or fewer dividends", while the shares fell as much as 17% on Monday, their sharpest drop since 1998, according to Bloomberg
• The cash call follows Fitch's downgrade and S&P's fallen-angel warning in September, and comes as the group's UK arm closes its Coventry casino

Genting Asks Shareholders to Fund the Next Year of Maturities

Genting Berhad said on Friday 9 October that it intends to raise approximately RM1.25 billion through a renounceable rights issue, according to the announcement filed with Bursa Malaysia by its principal adviser, AmInvestment Bank. Of that, RM800 million, about $196 million, would repay borrowings due within 12 months of completion, RM429.5 million, about $105 million, would go to working capital, and RM20.5 million would cover expenses.

The board will fix the issue price and entitlement ratio after shareholders approve the exercise, at a 25% to 30% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price based on a five-day volume-weighted average. For illustration only, the announcement uses one rights share for every four held at RM1.30, which would mean 962,644,024 new shares against 3,850,576,099 in issue. The exercise needs Bursa Malaysia Securities' approval to list the shares and a vote at an extraordinary general meeting, and Genting expects to complete it by the first quarter of 2027.

The Lim family's vehicles gave written, irrevocable and unconditional undertakings on 9 October to subscribe in full: Kien Huat Realty, with 43.82%, Kien Huat International, with 1.25%, and Dato' Indera Lim Keong Hui, son of chairman Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, with 0.03%. On the illustrative terms that is about RM563.8 million, approximately $138 million. Underwriting for the remaining 54.9% is expected to be in place before the price is fixed, the filing says. No underwriter is named.

A Group That Lost Money in 2025 and Borrowed More in 2026

Genting recorded a loss attributable to shareholders of about RM11.6 million in 2025, against a profit of RM883.0 million in 2024, and attributable profit for the first half of 2026 fell 70.17% to RM74.0 million. Borrowings stood at RM45.25 billion, approximately $11.1 billion, at 30 June, of which RM9.68 billion was short term. They rose 16.43% in a year, "principally reflecting financing raised for RWNYC's commercial casino license and development expenditure", a reference to Resorts World New York City, which began full casino operations in April.

The company cut its 2025 dividend to 5.0 sen from 11.0 sen and declared no interim dividend for the second quarter. Repaying RM800 million at the 5.16% average rate on its short-term debt would save about RM41.3 million, approximately $10.1 million, a year, according to the filing. In April, Genting subsidiaries offered $1.25 billion of subordinated perpetual securities at 7.625% and 8.300% and tendered for $1.5 billion of 4.25% notes due 2027, according to Bursa announcements. In December 2025 Genting's offer for Genting Malaysia closed at 73.13%, short of the 75% needed to delist it, Bernama reported, after the target's independent adviser urged rejection.

Maybank Turns Seller

Maybank Investment Bank downgraded Genting to sell in an 11 October note, according to Asia Gaming Brief. "Our scenario analysis reveals not only minimal interest savings and de-gearing but also marked earnings-per-share and book value per share dilution," analyst Samuel Yin wrote, Bloomberg reported. Maybank estimates net gearing falls only about two percentage points from 63%, with earnings-per-share dilution of 18% from 2027 on the illustrative terms, and read the exercise as a possible sign of limited success in refinancing into longer-dated debt.

Public Investment Bank took the other side, calling it "a more sensible way" to raise funds after credit downgrades raised Genting's funding costs, according to The Edge Malaysia. The shares fell as much as 17.02% to RM1.56 on Monday, their lowest since April 2007, and later traded as low as RM1.46, according to KLSE Screener data. Genting Malaysia fell 13% by the midday break.

The Family's 45% Is a Floor, Not a Vote of Confidence

The undertakings guarantee nearly half the money. But they are pro rata: the family is buying exactly enough to avoid dilution, not adding to its stake, and the filing says its percentage holding is not expected to change. The open 54.9% is left to underwriters not yet named, on terms to be negotiated after a share price fall of more than 17%. And with the shares near RM1.50 rather than the RM1.8684 average the illustration used, the same discount would set a lower price, so raising the same sum would take more than 962.6 million new shares.

RM800 Million Barely Moves a RM45 Billion Balance Sheet

The repayment is less than 2% of borrowings and less than a tenth of the short-term portion. The filing's own pro forma, on end-2025 figures, puts gearing at 0.46 times after the exercise against 0.47 times, and the RM41.3 million saving compares with finance costs of about RM2.1 billion in 2024. A group of this size does not ask shareholders for RM1.25 billion to save RM41 million. It asks because maturities are close and debt one notch above junk has become dearer, which is why Maybank's reading carries weight.

The Pressure Reaches Britain

Genting's UK casinos sit inside Genting Malaysia, which the parent controls, and the filing calls the UK operating environment "challenging". Genting has said doubling Machine Games Duty would make 13 of its 32 UK casinos unviable. A parent cutting dividends and raising equity to meet maturities has less room to carry marginal venues, and the filing's UK plan speaks of operational efficiencies and prudent cost management, not investment.

Genting has chosen to dilute shareholders rather than borrow more one notch above junk, and the family has protected its stake without enlarging it. The price fixed after the EGM, and who underwrites the rest, will show how much shareholders are being asked to absorb.