Las Vegas Sands may use some of the proceeds from the recent sale of its Las Vegas assets to fund a further increase in its shareholding of Macau subsidiary Sands China Ltd.
The possibility was floated by LVS President and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Dumont during the company’s 1Q21 earnings call early Thursday morning (Asia time), with the company still assessing how best to deploy an impending US$6.25 billion windfall. LVS currently holds a 69.94% stake in Sands China.
“It’s definitely something that we think about and will consider over time,” Dumont said.
“From our standpoint, we still believe in the long-term future and success of Macau as a world-leading tourism destination and as Rob has said before we plan to invest more there in non-gaming.
“Where we’re at now is we don’t have the proceeds yet, we’re looking at the options and with a focus on returns. We’re looking at new developments, we’re looking at developing more in the markets that we’re in and I think [increasing our stake] will be something we think about.
“There is a lot of opportunity in front of the company. We’re staying patient, we’re looking at it all and we’re going to look at it through different lenses.
It’s not something I’m going to say we’ll do now, but it is something we will consider as we look across how to deploy capital.”
Dumont noted that under Hong Kong Stock Exchange rules, a minimum of 25% of shares are required to be held publicly although “there are exceptions.”
LVS announced in March that it had reached an agreement with two separate investment groups to sell its entire Las Vegas portfolio for US$6.25 billion.
Chairman and CEO Rob Goldstein said at the time that the sale would see LVS instead focus its resources on reinvestment in Asia and high growth opportunities in new markets.
