Moody’s Ratings has downgraded the issuer ratings of Genting Berhad and its subsidiaries Genting Singapore and Genting Overseas Holdings Limited following the parent’s acquisition of a controlling stake in Genting Malaysia and the award of a full commercial casino license in New York.
In a Monday note, the ratings agency said it had downgraded both Genting Berhad and Genting Overseas Holdings from Baa2 to Baa3 and Genting Singapore from A3 to Baa1, with a stable outlook on all ratings.
“The ratings downgrade reflects Genting Berhad’s already weak position due to prolonged deleveraging amid slower than expected earnings recovery, further strained by increased debt to fund its take-over offer for Genting Malaysia Berhad and expected spending following the potential award of a downstate New York City commercial casino license,” said Moody’s Ratings analyst, Anthony Prayugo.
He added that the stable outlook reflects an expectation that earnings will continue to improve at the company’s Resorts World Sentosa IR in Singapore and at Resorts World Las Vegas, and that execution risk in New York remains minimal because the project will be earnings accretive by the second half of 2026.
As reported by IAG, Genting Malaysia was on 1 December recommended by New York’s Gaming Facility Location Board (GFLB) to be awarded a full commercial casino license for its existing slots-only casino in Queens, New York. The expansion of the existing property, alongside license fees and promised community benefits, will cost around US$5.5 billion.
In advance of receiving a full license, Genting Berhad recently launched a takeover offer for Genting Malaysia which has seen its stake in the company increase from around 49.4% to around 73.1%.
On the group’s rising debt, Moody’s said it expected Genting Berhad’s adjusted debt/EBITDA to rise to 4.9x in 2025 and 4.8x in 2026 before declining to around 4.3x in 2027, with deleveraging to be supported by earnings contribution from its downstate New York casino, continued growth at existing gaming operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Las Vegas, and other interests.
While Genting Berhad’s standalone liquidity is described as “excellent” thanks to fees and dividend income from its operating subsidiaries, the debt maturity wall will build in 2027 when US$1.5 billion notes under GOHL Capital Limited are due for repayment in January 2027, followed by MYR1.9 billion (US$440 million) of borrowings under Genting RMTN Berhad and Genting Capital Berhad – both wholly owned subsidiaries – that will be due in March 2027 and June 2027 respectively.
“We expect Genting Berhad will need to refinance at least a portion of those debt maturities over the next six to 12 months,” Moody’s said.
The downgrade of Resorts World Sentosa operator Genting Singapore is linked to risks stemming from its parent, Genting Berhad, plus capital expenditure associated with its RWS 2.0 expansion project.
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