Genting reduces stake at Cruise Line

Genting Hong Kong has put up 2.19 percent of its shares at Nowegian Cruise Line Holdings for sale and will reduce its stake in the company.

Hong Kong.- Genting Hong Kong Ltd has announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it has put 5 million Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) shares up for sale to Morgan Stanley for US$270.1 million. The operation will see the Asian company’s stake in the business reduced by 2.19 percent to 5.64 percent and will mean a US$57.4 million gain from it.

Genting announced it will use the sell’s profits “as general working capital and capital expenditure for the group and/or to fund new investments, should suitable opportunities arise.” The operation follows another sale made by the company in August, through which it disposed 3.29 per cent of its stakes in NCLH for US$409.1 million, recording a US$90.1 million yield.

The operation is part of Genting’s intentions to focus its business efforts n the North Asian region as it already left the Singapore Stock Exchange and made a primary listing in Hong Kong to increase its visibility in the area. Furthermore, according to the company’s chairman and CEO Lim Kok Thay, the holding firm is targetting the growth of the Asian cruise market and assured investors that they’re aiming to focus their efforts to comply with the Chinese market demands.