Las Vegas Sands Seeks Funding to Revive Macau Work (Update1)
By Beth Jinks
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Las Vegas Sands Corp., the casino company controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is seeking as much as $2 billion to restart mothballed projects in Macau, Chief Operating Officer Michael Leven said.
Sands aims to get commitments for project financing from lenders by the end of the month to resume work on lots 5 and 6 of its 21,000-room hotel and casino complex on Macau’s Cotai Strip, Leven said in an interview in New York yesterday.
The Las Vegas-based company is willing to contribute additional equity in the project, on top of the $1.6 billion it’s already spent on the four hotels, Leven said, declining to give an amount. He estimated the total cost at about $3.6 billion and said it could be finished by June 2011.
Adelson, the company’s chief executive officer, stopped construction on the two-thirds-built structures last year as credit markets froze, revenue growth slowed and the risk of loan defaults swelled. The hotels, located across the street from Sands’ Venetian Macao casino resort and next door to Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.’s City of Dreams, will be branded St. Regis, Shangri-La, Traders and Sheraton.
“We believe it’s the game changer and that’s why we want to finish it,” Leven said. “It’s key to our growth in Macau, and it’s key for Macau’s differentiation, to make Cotai a destination” for meetings and conventions.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is coordinating the financing, Leven said.
Hong Kong IPO
Separate from the construction financing, Las Vegas Sands plans to sell a stake in its Macau business in an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Wynn Macau Ltd., controlled by billionaire Steve Wynn, raised about $1.6 billion selling a stake in its Macau unit this month in Hong Kong.
Las Vegas Sands climbed 47 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $16.82 at the close of New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The shares have almost tripled this year.
Leven reiterated the company intends to open the first stage of its Singapore casino resort in the first quarter of next year. Las Vegas Sands said in July it wanted to open the casino by Feb. 15.
Marina Bay Sands’ Singapore opening date will be decided at the end of November, Leven said, after builders lift the last piece of the foundation of a “Sky Park” that will top the three 55-story hotel towers of the complex.
Hiring Under Way
Las Vegas Sands has begun hiring 9,000 employees on its Singapore payroll and expects to have nearly “everyone on board by the end of January,” Leven said.
Singapore is counting on the Sands resort and a second casino project on Sentosa island to help the city-state achieve its goal of luring 17 million visitors and tripling annual tourism revenue to S$30 billion ($21.6 billion) by 2015.
Genting Bhd.’s Genting Singapore Plc, which is developing the Sentosa resort, plans to open its first phase early next year.
The consensus among market watchers is that Genting is on course for a partial opening of its Singapore casino resort by Christmas, putting it ahead of the Las Vegas Sands project, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Genting has been quietly preparing for an earlier ramp-up, the newspaper reported.
“We are soft opening early 2010, but we did announce that we will host ChildAid on Dec. 19,” which isn’t considered a soft opening, Krist Boo, head of communications of Resorts World at Sentosa, said in an e-mailed statement. Resorts World is a unit of Genting Singapore.
Festive Grand Theater
The Festive Grand theatre will be opened and ready for the ChildAid charity concert in December, Robin Goh, a spokesman at Resorts World, said via e-mail. The opening in early 2010 will include Southeast Asia’s “first and only Universal Studios theme park, four hotels, the casino and part of FestiveWalk,” he said.
Each casino complex will create more than 10,000 jobs, Singapore Tourism Board CEO Aw Kah Peng said yesterday at an event in New York, where chef Daniel Boulud announced he will open one of Marina Bay Sands’ six celebrity chef restaurants.
Boulud said he was leaving Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s namesake casino in Las Vegas where he has a brasserie, and is looking for a new restaurant opportunity in the biggest U.S. casino city.
To contact the reporter on this story: Beth Jinks in New York at [email protected]
Last Updated: October 22, 2009 23:33 EDT
By Beth Jinks
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Las Vegas Sands Corp., the casino company controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is seeking as much as $2 billion to restart mothballed projects in Macau, Chief Operating Officer Michael Leven said.
Sands aims to get commitments for project financing from lenders by the end of the month to resume work on lots 5 and 6 of its 21,000-room hotel and casino complex on Macau’s Cotai Strip, Leven said in an interview in New York yesterday.
The Las Vegas-based company is willing to contribute additional equity in the project, on top of the $1.6 billion it’s already spent on the four hotels, Leven said, declining to give an amount. He estimated the total cost at about $3.6 billion and said it could be finished by June 2011.
Adelson, the company’s chief executive officer, stopped construction on the two-thirds-built structures last year as credit markets froze, revenue growth slowed and the risk of loan defaults swelled. The hotels, located across the street from Sands’ Venetian Macao casino resort and next door to Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.’s City of Dreams, will be branded St. Regis, Shangri-La, Traders and Sheraton.
“We believe it’s the game changer and that’s why we want to finish it,” Leven said. “It’s key to our growth in Macau, and it’s key for Macau’s differentiation, to make Cotai a destination” for meetings and conventions.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is coordinating the financing, Leven said.
Hong Kong IPO
Separate from the construction financing, Las Vegas Sands plans to sell a stake in its Macau business in an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Wynn Macau Ltd., controlled by billionaire Steve Wynn, raised about $1.6 billion selling a stake in its Macau unit this month in Hong Kong.
Las Vegas Sands climbed 47 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $16.82 at the close of New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The shares have almost tripled this year.
Leven reiterated the company intends to open the first stage of its Singapore casino resort in the first quarter of next year. Las Vegas Sands said in July it wanted to open the casino by Feb. 15.
Marina Bay Sands’ Singapore opening date will be decided at the end of November, Leven said, after builders lift the last piece of the foundation of a “Sky Park” that will top the three 55-story hotel towers of the complex.
Hiring Under Way
Las Vegas Sands has begun hiring 9,000 employees on its Singapore payroll and expects to have nearly “everyone on board by the end of January,” Leven said.
Singapore is counting on the Sands resort and a second casino project on Sentosa island to help the city-state achieve its goal of luring 17 million visitors and tripling annual tourism revenue to S$30 billion ($21.6 billion) by 2015.
Genting Bhd.’s Genting Singapore Plc, which is developing the Sentosa resort, plans to open its first phase early next year.
The consensus among market watchers is that Genting is on course for a partial opening of its Singapore casino resort by Christmas, putting it ahead of the Las Vegas Sands project, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Genting has been quietly preparing for an earlier ramp-up, the newspaper reported.
“We are soft opening early 2010, but we did announce that we will host ChildAid on Dec. 19,” which isn’t considered a soft opening, Krist Boo, head of communications of Resorts World at Sentosa, said in an e-mailed statement. Resorts World is a unit of Genting Singapore.
Festive Grand Theater
The Festive Grand theatre will be opened and ready for the ChildAid charity concert in December, Robin Goh, a spokesman at Resorts World, said via e-mail. The opening in early 2010 will include Southeast Asia’s “first and only Universal Studios theme park, four hotels, the casino and part of FestiveWalk,” he said.
Each casino complex will create more than 10,000 jobs, Singapore Tourism Board CEO Aw Kah Peng said yesterday at an event in New York, where chef Daniel Boulud announced he will open one of Marina Bay Sands’ six celebrity chef restaurants.
Boulud said he was leaving Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s namesake casino in Las Vegas where he has a brasserie, and is looking for a new restaurant opportunity in the biggest U.S. casino city.
To contact the reporter on this story: Beth Jinks in New York at [email protected]
Last Updated: October 22, 2009 23:33 EDT
