{"id":13441,"date":"2021-01-17T17:01:54","date_gmt":"2021-01-17T17:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=13441"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:38:09","slug":"moodys-fears-melco-debt-could-reach-us7bn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/moodys-fears-melco-debt-could-reach-us7bn","title":{"rendered":"Moody\u2019s fears Melco debt could reach US$7bn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ratings agency cites \u201csluggish cash flow” and planned capital spending on Studio City and a Cyprus resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Moody\u2019s Investors Service has warned that Melco Resorts & Entertainment<\/strong> could see its consolidated debt increase from US$6.1bn to US$7bn in the next 12 to 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The operator\u2019s new $250m senior notes<\/a><\/em><\/strong> announced last week received a Ba2 rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company announced an offering of 5.375 per cent senior notes due 2029 to raise funds to repay the principal amount drawn under a revolving credit facility acquired by a subsidiary last April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moody\u2019s estimated the company’s debt will grow due to \u201csluggish cash flow<\/strong> and planned capital spending<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The capital spending relates to the phase two construction of Studio City <\/strong>and the development of an integrated resort in Cyprus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moody\u2019s said: \u201cGiven the above expectations, Moody\u2019s projects Melco\u2019s adjusted debt\/EBITDA will be elevated at around 10x or higher in 2021 before improving to around 5x to 6x in 2022 and around 4x in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moody\u2019s also expects gaming revenue in Macau<\/strong> to improve in 2021 but starting from a very weak level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macaus’ Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau revealed that gross gaming revenues (GGR) reached MOP61bn (US$7.63bn) in 2020, down from MOP293.3bn in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAR\u2019s recovery depends on the return of Chinese visitors but many travel restrictions remain in place and social distancing rules apply at casinos. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ratings agency cites \u201csluggish cash flow” and planned capital spending on Studio City and a Cyprus resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Moody's Investors Service has warned that Melco Resorts & Entertainment's consolidated debt could increase from US$6.1bn to US$7bn, citing sluggish cash flow and planned capital spending on Studio City Phase 2 and a Cyprus integrated resort. The operator's new $250m senior notes received a Ba2 rating, contributing to an elevated adjusted debt\/EBITDA ratio expected to improve by 2023. This outlook is set against a backdrop of significantly reduced Macau GGR in 2020 and ongoing travel restrictions impacting recovery.","focusai_entities":"Moody\u2019s Investors Service, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Studio City","focusai_location":"Macau, Cyprus","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.7), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Melco Capital Strategy","query":"How will Melco's increased debt load and Ba2 senior notes rating impact its ability to secure additional financing for future expansion or strategic M&A, particularly given the current Macau concession renewal uncertainties?"},{"label":"Macau GGR Recovery Drivers","query":"Beyond the return of Chinese visitors, what specific policy changes or market dynamics are critical for Macau's GGR to rebound sufficiently to support Melco's projected debt\/EBITDA improvement by 2023?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,163],"tags":[23907,23906,665],"class_list":["post-13441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-finance-news","tag-land-based-casino","tag-macau-casinos","tag-melco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13465,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13441\/revisions\/13465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}