Las Vegas Sands owns Asia’s IR oligopoly

Las Vegas Sands is on the right track to continue standing out as Asia’s market leader in the IR world.

Sanford C Bernstein – an investment research and institutional asset management company – issued a report this Thursday; highlighting that the company’s offerings in Macau and Singapore markets will continue to grow with its expansion including the Japanese market planned for the next few years.

With 90% of overall profit coming from its Macau and Singapore properties, the brokerage believes the company already stands out among its peers; and will continue to invest and expand into the Asian market in the future.

In Macau, “Sands is now not only adding capacity but also redeveloping/upscaling its properties. When the redevelopment is complete, Sands will stand to benefit from the expected growth in the premium mass gaming segment.”

Bernstein says that “While Sands will see virtually no increase in net rooms, the redevelopment of Sands Cotai Central and the opening of the Four Seasons Tower Suites will significantly increase Sands’ product.”

Moreover in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands (LVS) and its only competitor in the market, Resorts World Sentosa (Genting Singapore), will invest approximately €3 billion to upgrade and expand their current facilities. Despite this, “MBS will continue to have an advantage over RWS in a number of hotel rooms and gaming features.”

Furthermore, in Japan, LVS has recently shown interest in pursuing an IR bid. However, given the expected costs to develop an IR are now exceeding €9 billion, the operator is playing it cautiously. Japan represents an opportunity that “provides attractive long-term optionality for LVS in an oligopoly market.

“The Japan market will likely surpass the size of Singapore and LVS is well-positioned as a front-runner in the race for an integrated resort development,” Bernstein said.