Las Vegas Sands bets on Singapore
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Las Vegas Sands Corp, which will open its US$5.5 billion (SG$7.7 billion) Singapore casino resort in late April, plans to renegotiate its US$5 billion US debt by the end of this year, the company’s chief operating officer said recently.
‘We want to go to our US lender group and perhaps pay down a little debt … by the time this year ends, assuming Singapore successfully opens, I think that will happen,’ Michael Leven said at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York.
He said the company’s 130 US lenders will likely seek a paydown of US$1 billion or so as well as a higher interest rate and fees.
The company carries about US$11 billion in total debt – US$5 billion by the US group, around US$3.6 billion in Singapore and US$2.7 billion or so in Macau, he said.
‘In the US, our debt covenants require us to hold in the bank US$3 billion in cash,’ Mr Leven said. ‘We have over US $5 billion now.’ The COO said the only risk to Sands’ plan is if Singapore doesn’t do well. ‘We have to do US$400 million in EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation) to clear covenants. If we don’t do that, we’ve made a bad investment in Singapore,’ he said.
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