LVS considers sale of flagship casinos to focus on Asia
Sheldon Adelson’s casino company is in talks to sell its Las Vegas casinos to pay for its expansion in the Asian market.
Macau.- Casino operator Las Vegas Sands has confirmed it is “in early talks” with an eye to selling its flagship Las Vegas venues the Venetian Resort Las Vegas, the Palazzo and the Sands Expo Convention Center for US$6bn.
The company intends to focus on expansion in Asia and would use the funds raised for projects in Macau and Singapore.
It looks increasingly like Las Vegas will struggle to make a recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In contrast, LVS’ Singapore operation, Marina Bay Sands, turned positive figures in the third quarter.
LVS is to spend $3.3bn on a new luxury tower at the Singapore property. It is also spending $1.35bn to rebrand Sands Cotai Central as the Londoner.
LVS owner Sheldon Adelson told his newspaper the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Macao has the potential to become one of the greatest business and leisure tourism destinations in the world.
“We would welcome the opportunity to invest billions of digital investment dollars and extend our contributions to Macao’s diversification and evolution into Asia’s leading leisure and business tourism destination.”
Las Vegas Sands has reported an 82 per cent quarter-to-quarter drop in net revenue to US$586 million for the three months ending September 30, with some US$610 million in operating losses.
