On the morning of Oct 13, trading in the shares of Genting and its 49.36% associate company Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM)was suspended. That evening, Genting announced a voluntary general offer (VGO) for GenM shares at RM2.35 apiece — an exercise that would see it incur a debt of RM6.7 billion ($2.05 billion).
Just when the chips were down for the Lim family behind Genting group, their fortunes seemed to have turned around, thanks to the euphoria over the upcoming integrated resort and casino in downtown New York.
After months of speculation that Genting Bhd, the flagship company headed by Malaysian billionaire businessman Lim Kok Thay, was looking at a corporate exercise to unlock value in the group, it embarked on an exercise that was fairly predictable.
