Friday 31 October 2008
Las Vegas Sands shares soar 80% after Singapore talks
Las Vegas Sands Corp shares soared a record 80 per cent in New York trading on Wednesday after the Singapore Government said it was in talks with the casino company to help complete a US$4 billion (S$5.9 billion) casino project in the city state.
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Las Vegas Sands shares soar 80% after Singapore talks
Bloomberg
31 October 2008
Las Vegas Sands Corp shares soared a record 80 per cent in New York trading on Wednesday after the Singapore Government said it was in talks with the casino company to help complete a US$4 billion (S$5.9 billion) casino project in the city state.
The Singapore Tourism Board will ‘facilitate the success’ of the project in downtown Singapore, the agency said. It did not say how it would help or if it would provide financial support.
The Republic’s tourism agency ‘is monitoring the situation and is aware that the current uncertain economic climate may give rise to concerns’, it said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday. It is ‘working closely’ with the company’s Singapore unit, Marina Bay Sands.
The talks with Singapore follow the casino operator’s hiring of an investment bank last week to raise more capital with the help of billionaire chief executive Sheldon Adelson.
Las Vegas Sands reiterated yesterday that it plans to open the casino resort at the end of next year as scheduled, after The Straits Times reported that the project is several months behind schedule.
‘We continue to target the end of 2009 for the opening of Marina Bay Sands,’ Mr George Tanasijevich, general manager of the Singapore development, said in an e-mailed statement.
Shares of Las Vegas Sands rose US$3.96 to US$8.91 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Wednesday, the biggest increase since the company’s 2004 initial stock sale.
Its shares had fallen 95 per cent this year compared with the 36 per cent decline in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index.
The surge may have been fuelled by purchases by short-sellers who needed to cover their positions when the stock initially gained.
Other gaming stocks rose in tandem. Wynn Resorts jumped 25 per cent to US$41.05 and Melco Crown Entertainment gained 25 per cent to US$3.57.
MGM Mirage, the casino company majority-owned by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, rose 33 per cent to US$13.75, the most in almost 19 years, after shelving two planned developments and outlining cost cuts that will save US$500 million a year.
Investor sentiment towards gaming companies may also be benefiting from the US Federal Reserve’s attempts to thaw the frozen credit markets, with loans recently given to companies including MGM Mirage.
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