3rd UPDATE: Las Vegas Sands Mulls EUR15 Billion Casino Resorts In Spain
6:05a ET February 17, 2011 (Dow Jones)
3rd UPDATE: Las Vegas Sands Mulls EUR15 Billion Casino Resorts In Spain
(Recasts lede, adds background.)
By Sam Holmes
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) is looking to create a set of casino and leisure resorts in Spain similar to the facilities it currently has in Macau in a development that could cost as much as EUR15 billion, the gaming group's chairman said Thursday.
Sheldon Adelson named Barcelona and Madrid as potential locations for the "mini-Las Vegas" style developments. He's keen to build more than 20,000 rooms and "millions of square feet" of retail and convention and exhibition floorspace in a project that could generate as much as 180,000 new jobs, he said.
"This will cost EUR10 billion to EUR15 billion...and we need the support of the (Spanish) government," Adelson told reporters at a meeting at the grand opening of the US$5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands integrated resort in Singapore.
He said the group is due to hold meetings with three general contractors in two weeks' time in Spain to discuss possible plans to build several sites simultaneously.
In Macau, Hong Kong-listed Sands China Ltd. (1928.HK), a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands, runs three casinos including The Venetian Macao--the world's largest---and has plans to open an even bigger casino-resort across the street.
However, government-imposed steps to curb employment in the sector in Macau will likely see the start of that project, dubbed "sites 5 and 6," delayed until 2012, say analysts.
In December, the company's expansion plans were dealt another blow when the local government rejected its plans to build on another plot of land in Macau's lucrative Cotai area.
Adelson also identified India and Vietnam as markets of interest to the group but flagged current government regulations as too restrictive for any immediate plans.
The group in April last year opened the doors of its Singapore resort, which has since drawn more than 11 million visitors.
Adelson earlier in the day said he is keen to acquire more land in Singapore to accommodate the burgeoning demand for the integrated resort's meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, or MICE, facilities.
"We are already running out of MICE space," he said at a briefing at the full opening of the integrated resort.
"I've told the government that we need some more land to expand the MICE space because the demand that this property is going to create is rapidly bringing us to the point where we may even have to ration space."
He said Marina Bay Sands' MICE facilities are currently running at 87% capacity and that "within about 12-to-18 months" the complex will be "rationing space" to potential users.
He would like to at least double the resort's current 120,000 square meters of MICE space but said he would be happy to increase the current capacity by 50%.
Las Vegas Sands Chief Operating Officer Mike Leven said there is land available at various points around the resort's current location that the group could potentially use to expand its business.
"Demand is going to be higher than supply shortly as the entire hospitality industry is running over 80% occupancy," Leven said.
Turnover in Singapore's nascent gaming market has exceeded expectations with some analysts valuing the sector around US$6 billion in 2010 and expecting revenues to rival those of the Las Vegas strip by next year. Similarly, official figures released last week show the city-state earned S$18.8 billion in tourism receipts in 2010, beating the government's S$17.5 billion to S$18.5 billion forecast, due largely to strong visitorship to the Marina Bay Sands and the Resorts World at Sentosa integrated resorts.
Adelson said he expects the Marina Bay Sands to break even within four years of operations.
Leven also said a report on the search for a new chief executive for the Singapore integrated resort is due Friday.
In late January, Marina Bay Sands Chief Executive Tom Arasi resigned for personal reasons. Arasi's resignation came 18 months after he joined and less than one year after the integrated resort opened its doors to the public.
Earlier this month, Las Vegas Sands appointed George Tanasijevich as interim chief executive of Marina Bay Sands, a person Adelson said is a potential candidate for the permanent position.
-By Sam Holmes, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 152; samuel.holmes@dowjones.com
--Kate O'Keeffe in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-17-11 0605ET
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