Genting International is seeking to borrow a record 3.2 billion Singapore dollars
Genting International, a unit of Genting, the biggest Asian casino operator by market value, is seeking to borrow a record 3.2 billion Singapore dollars, or $2.2 billion, to fund a casino resort in Singapore, three people with knowledge of the transaction said. The overseas unit of Genting is adding to the 2.17 billion dollars raised in a rights offer in August, and the 450 million dollars of convertible bonds it sold in April to partly fund the resort. 
Genting International’s loan will push lending to the Asian casino industry to about $9.1 billion, more than double the total for last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Lending to the region’s industry is set to grow as countries like Japan consider joining Singapore in lifting bans on casinos. Las Vegas Sands, the largest casino operator by market value, hired eight banks last month to arrange a loan of about 5 billion dollars for its Singapore gaming resort. Genting International’s loan will be a record for the Singapore-listed company. The gaming operator has yet to pick arrangers, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private. Tan Hee Teck, the chief executive of Resorts World at Sentosa, Genting International’s 5.2 billion dollar casino project in Singapore, did not return calls to his office Tuesday. The regulated gambling market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to expand 15.7 percent a year to $30.3 billion in 2011, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. The region will replace Europe, the Middle East and Africa as the second-biggest gaming market after the United States by 2011,