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LAS VEGAS (AFP)--Las Vegas Sands (LVS) chief Sheldon Adelson has said he may have arranged financing necessary to restart stalled construction projects in Macau and the United States by the end of 2009.
The company, facing a credit crunch and a stock price in freefall, halted the building of two resorts in Macau in November as well as a condominium project in Las Vegas and parts of a site in Bethlehem, Penn.
The Macau stoppage resulted in the loss of around 11,000 construction jobs in the former Portuguese colony, a Special Administrative Region in southern China neighboring Hong Kong that is now a casino hub.
However, gaming tycoon Adelson said he was now confident that all of the Sands' stalled projects could resume.
"I just came back from Macau and we have five or six different options that we can pursue, each one of which would solve our liquidity problems," Adelson said.
"The best of the options out there would provide us with sufficient liquidity that we will restart all of our projects by the end of the year.
"We will finish Bethlehem, we will finish Lots five and six (in Macau), and I don't know if I want to finish the condos in Vegas yet just because of the market."
LVS has charted an ambitious $12 billion building plan on an area of reclaimed land in Macau known as the Cotai Strip that, upon build-out, is slated to include 11 resorts with a collective 20,000 hotel rooms.
The Venetian Macao and Four Seasons Macau are open; Lots 5 and 6, which include Shangri-La and Sheraton-branded hotels, are under construction.
The company also owns the Sands Macao, a casino-hotel on Macau's peninsula area where casinos have been clustered and where LVS' American rivals Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and MGM Mirage (MGM) have opened properties in recent years.
The only U.S. gaming corporation building on Cotai is LVS, although Wynn owns property in the region.
Adelson did not disclose details of the possible financing arrangement, but gaming industry analyst Bill Lerner speculated it could involve selling existing assets or equity in the new projects.
"It suggests that there's a financial and/or construction partner that would take equity in sites 5 and 6," said Union Gaming Group's Lerner.
"They will either sell the Sands Macao or some of the retail areas at the Four Seasons and Venetian Macao."
LVS stock has plummeted from a high of $148 in October 2007 to a low of less than $2 earlier this year, hovering above $9 on Tuesday.
Adelson, 75, was the third wealthiest American according to Forbes Magazine as recently as 2008 but fell to No. 178 this year as his personal wealth tumbled from $28 billion in 2008 to $3.4 billion this year.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-26-092137ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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Mon Jun 1, 2009 2:11pm IST Email | Print | Share| Single Page[-] Text [+] * Las Vegas Sands, Wynn look good for Asian exposure
* MGM looks shaky on high debt load, small Macau business
* Macau gaming stocks hot for higher growth potential (For other Reuters BUY OR SELL items, click [BUYSELL/])
By Sui-Lee Wee
HONG KONG, June 1 (Reuters) - Casino stocks have had a recent winning streak, fuelled by hopes that some debt-heavy firms have staved off bankruptcy and a betting sector slump has hit bottom.
Among top global gaming stocks, Las Vegas Sands (LVS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has more than quadrupled since March, versus the Dow Jones industrial average's .DJI 19 percent gain, while MGM Mirage (MGM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has more than doubled and Wynn Resorts (WYNN.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is up 74 percent.
But the shares still trade well below year-ago levels, and most analysts rate them a "hold" -- advising investors to take a wait-and-see approach before making any moves.
(For a global gaming sector package, click [ID:nHKG213363])
ASIAN JACKPOT
With more than half their operating profits earned in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, Sands and Wynn are the preferred choice for investors who want exposure to Asia's more resilient gaming capital than to a volatile Las Vegas.
Pure Macau plays such as Galaxy Entertainment Group (0027.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), Melco Crown Entertainment (MPEL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and SJM Holdings (0880.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) have nearly doubled or more since March.
Macau, the world's biggest gaming market, is likely to return to a growth track by September, but the third quarter in Las Vegas is expected to remain weak, analysts said. [ID:nHKG261502]
Sands, which operates two casinos in Macau, opens Singapore's first mega-casino late this year or in early 2010.
"The Singapore casino looks like it'll be a slam dunk for them," said analyst Janet Brashear of Sanford Bernstein. "That stock has lots of upside potential, if they can get over their covenant issues. But it's a high-risk, high-reward situation."
For a safer bet, some analysts recommend Wynn, which has the strongest balance sheet among its peers and is slated to open a second Macau casino next May.
On a 2009 enterprise value to EBITDA ratio (EV/EBITDA), Wynn trades around 13.2 times, lower than Sands' 18.8 times, but above MGM's 8.1 times, according to UBS.
HOUSE OF CARDS
Given the brutal global economy, there's no guarantee that Macau will offset weakness at the Strip for Wynn and Sands. A stream of new Las Vegas casinos is likely to create a supply glut and margins could feel the pinch as Melco Crown and MGM open new properties this year.
Some say avoid MGM due to its heavy Strip exposure, a $14 billion debt load and a relatively small Macau business.
"They're struggling under enormous debt that can constrain how they will operate in the next few years and they have few opportunities to grow," Brashear said, predicting MGM would remain unprofitable until 2014.
While pure Macau plays look good, some caution the family-run nature of Asian companies may make them riskier longer term bets.
"It's the question of us getting enough comfort from those families that run some of these casinos," said Nicholas Yeo, fund manager at Aberdeen Asset Management. "We're not sure what's going on behind the scenes."
Others also argue a recent run-up in casino stocks could mean the sector is due for a correction.
"The valuations are rich and that leaves little room for error," said Credit Suisse analyst Gabriel Chan, referring to Macau stocks. He recently downgraded Melco Crown due to its high share price. (Editing by Doug Young & Ian Geoghegan)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
The Associated Press
Posted: 06/04/2009 09:00:16 AM PDT
LAS VEGAS—A Las Vegas Sands Corp. official says a settlement has been reached with three men who claimed they were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars for helping the company gain a gambling license in Macau.
Company spokesman Ron Reese said Thursday the agreement with Clive Bassett Jones, Dax Turok and Cliff Cheong is confidential.
An attorney for the men had said Las Vegas Sands owed his clients at least $500 million.
The deal avoids trial, which was due to begin Thursday in Las Vegas with company Chairman Sheldon Adelson and former company President Bill Weidner due to testify.
The men claimed they helped Las Vegas Sands' entry into Macau when they paired the owner of the Venetian hotel-casino with Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment in 2002.