The company, which also owns the Star Cruises and Dream Cruises lines, saw its shares plunge by more than 30% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday (20 August) after announcing it was “temporarily suspending” all payments to creditors.

Genting Hong Kong currently has debts of around $3.4 billion and admitted there was “currently a lack of certainty as to the outcome of the fundraising exercise”.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the suspension of sailings globally,” said Genting. “The group has undertaken a number of cost reduction and cash conservation measures to mitigate the effects of the resultant loss of revenues from its operations.

“The company’s remaining available cash will be reserved to maintain critical services for the group’s operations, while the company will endeavour to negotiate a holistic debt restructuring solution.”

Earlier this month, Crystal cancelled the remainder of its 2020 ocean, river and yacht sailings due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Genting said it planned to hold a virtual meeting with creditors “as soon as practicable” to allow the group’s restructuring plan to be evaluated, as well as asking for creditors not to take any enforcement action against the company.