Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) has increased its stake in its Macau entity, Sands China Ltd, above 75%, the two companies have revealed.
In a Tuesday filing, Sands China said it was informed by LVS that Venetian Venture Development Intermediate II – the immediate controlling shareholder of the company and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of LVS – had on 1 September purchased 1,623,200 Sands China shares in the open market – enough to lift its stake from around 74.8% previously to 75.01% today.
At current valuation, the transaction was worth around HK$22.4 million (US$2.85 million).
However, Sands China also noted that the transaction means the company has now changed its reliance from the Initial Prescribed Threshold to the Alternative Threshold in order to comply with Hong Kong listing rules.
Under those rules, the number of shares held by the public in any listed firm must comprise at least 25% of the total number of issued shares in that class, or any lower minimum percentage of public float prescribed at the time of listing – a requirement known as the Initial Prescribed Threshold.
Alternatively, shares held by the public must have a market value of at least HK$1 billion (US$128 million) and represent at least 10% of total issued shares in that class.
According to Sands China, it continues to satisfy the Alternative Threshold because the market value of the company’s public float is HK$30.6 billion (US$3.90 billion).
LVS has progressively deployed capital to increase its stake in Sands China in recent years. Having previously owned around 69.9% of the company in 2023, the company boosted its interest to 72.13% in 2024 and to 74.8% in 2025.
Executives have outlined their confidence in their Asia-based investments in Macau and Singapore ever since selling their entire stake in The Venetian Las Vegas in 2022 for US$6.25 billion.
Sands China owns five integrated resorts in Macau: The Venetian Macao, The Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Plaza Macao and Sands Macao.
