LVS increases shares in Sands China

Las Vegas Sands is increasing its holdings in Sands China, the Las Vegas-based gaming company announced in a regulatory filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE).

The company said that via a holding company known as Venetian Venture Development Intermediate II, it is purchasing USD24.31 million worth of Sands China equity.

“For illustration purposes, based on the closing price of HKD20.20 per share as quoted on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on the date of the Share Purchase Transaction, the Funding Amount equals the total price of approximately 96,600,247 shares, representing approximately 1.19% of the total issued shares,” according to the filing.

Based on that 1.19%, Sands’ ownership of the China unit increases to 71.19% from 70%.

Meanwhile, as analysts are forecasting top-line growth for Macau operators, Sands’ move to up its stake in Sands China proves prescient.

“While it might be intuitive to link Macau’s mass gross gaming revenue (GGR) growth potential to China’s GDP, historical data suggest a weak correlation. Visitation, gaming spending and time spent at casinos together have a more significant correlation with Macau’s mass GGR,” observed Citi analyst George Choi in a recent note to clients.

As cited in a Casino.org report, Choi’s comments on mass market GGR are important to Sands China because mass and premium mass in Macau are already flirting with pre-pandemic levels and because Sands China is one of the dominant operators in those two segments. LV