Genting unit plans US$4b New York job

Genting Malaysia Bhd plans to invest at least US$4 billion to develop a convention and exhibition centre with hotel rooms and expand its casino in New York City, according to a statement to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange

Genting Malaysia Bhd’s shares climbed to a one-month high on expectations its US$4 billion plan to build the biggest convention center in the U.S. may help boost visitors to its nearby casino, the first in New York City.

The convention and exhibition center will include hotel rooms and an expansion of its casino in the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the Kuala Lumpur-based company said in a statement to the Malaysian stock exchange today. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday called for replacing the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan with the new 3.8 million-square-foot complex.

“It is a long-term planning that they do to make sure that in the future, there will be more consistent flow of business and people there,” Low Yee Huap, head of research at Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur today.

The investment will extend the Malaysian company’s reach in the U.S. after opening the New York City casino on Oct. 28 and amid plans for a US$3.8 billion casino-and-hotel complex in Miami. The company, along with its parent Genting Bhd, also owns and operates gaming resorts in the U.K., Malaysia and Singapore.

Genting Malaysia climbed 0.8 per cent to RM3.91 as of 4:01 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur, set for its highest since Dec. 5.

Cuomo said in his State of the State speech in Albany, the capital, that the Jacob Javits Center is “not competitive,” adding that the proposed Genting project will eclipse Chicago’s McCormick Place. The new development will include as many as 3,000 hotel rooms, he said.

Genting Malaysia’s New York unit is in talks with the state and expects a binding agreement by the end of November, it said in the statement.