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SINGAPORE : Questions have been raised about the health of United States gaming company Las Vegas Sands, which is building Marina Bay Sands resort here.
The company’s share price has plunged from a 52-week high of US$144.15 to Tuesday’s price of US$12.43 on concerns about a slowdown at its US operations, profitability of its Macau casinos and high gearing.
Mr Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gaming and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada in Reno, said the share price plunges at Las Vegas Sands and two other gaming firms reflect investor concerns about the firms, reported the online version of the Reno Gazette Journal.
“Either they are phenomenally good (stock) buys, or some of these companies are not going to be around,” he said.
In the worst-case scenario, if the US company goes bankrupt, Marina Bay Sands is unlikely to escape unscathed, said market observers.
“Generally speaking, if the parent company goes through financial difficulty before it has injected all the capital necessary to complete the construction, clearly that’s a problem,” said Mr Leon Perera from Spire Research and Consulting.
In the extreme scenario, if the parent company is liquidated, it needs to find a buyer for its stake in the subsidiary, which could affect the construction schedule, he said.
In response to a query about the impact on Marina Bay Sands’ operations here Mr Ron Reese, vice-president, Communications, Las Vegas Sands Corp: “The development of Marina Bay Sands remains on track.”
It said in February that it had obtained all the necessary financing - amounting to S$5.25 billion - to develop the integrated resort, which is due to open at the end of 2009. - TODAY/ra
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