Sheldon Adelson has been forced to come to the rescue of his pride and joy, Las Vegas Sands Corp, after the group he runs flirted with possible banking issues regarding one particular banking covenant. He has bailed the company out to the tune of $475 million after the shares halved in value this year. So what next for one of America’s best know casino establishments?
While times are hard for all in the casino industry at the moment, especially those that have committed themselves to long term expansion plans, such as Las Vegas Sands Corp the cash injection shows that the main shareholders are willing to do whatever it takes to get the group through the current downturn. The problem for Las Vegas Sands Corp is the fact it has committed to expansion plans which require over $15 billion.
In the good old days it was possible to fund such expansion plans with a mixture of cash flow and bank debt but both of these avenues of finance have dried up of late. They will come again at some stage but that is no good to companies such as Las Vegas Sands Corp that require finance now.