Lim Keong Hui, son of Genting group boss Lim Kok Thay, has bought over the Zouk Group from Genting Hong Kong for $14 million, or HK$79.3 million. Genting HK, whose main business is in operating cruise ships, will book a gain of HK$6.7 million from the sale.
Hong Kong-listed Genting HK bought Zouk from its founder Lincoln Cheng back in 2015 for an undisclosed sum.
The sale was announced by Genting HK on Sept 1. On Aug 28, Keong Hui resigned as executive director and deputy CEO of Genting HK, in order to “devote more time to other business commitments”.
Keong Hui holds other key appointments with other Genting companies, except Genting Singapore.
Zouk Group, which runs clubs and F&B outlets, has been in the red for more than two years. For the year ended Dec 31 2018, it lost HK$3.35 million, and losses widened to HK$11.6 million the following year. For the first seven months this year, when the iconic disco in Singapore was forced to turn into a eating place instead of a dancing club, losses hit HK$79.6 million.
According to Zouk’s website, there are plans to expand to Las Vegas.
Hit by the pandemic, Genting HK, which has some US$3.4 billion in liabilities, is trying to renegotiate debt with creditors.