Las Vegas Sands IPO Raises $690 Million
Las Vegas Sands Corp., owner of the Venetian Casino Resort in Las Vegas and the Sands Macau in China’s former Portuguese enclave, raised $690 million on Tuesday in the biggest initial public offering by a U.S. gaming company.
Shares will begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol LVS.
The company sold 24 million shares at $29 each, compared with a projected price range of $24 to $26, according to bankers involved in the sale.
Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson, 71, and his family will have an 87.9% stake in the company after the IPO, a regulatory filing said.
“The Venetian is one of the most impressive gaming buildings in the world,” said Eric Hausler, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group in New York. Adelson “had the vision to cater the property to the higher-end convention users.”
The IPO, bigger than developer Steve Wynn’s $450-million IPO of Wynn Resorts Ltd. two years ago, will help Las Vegas Sands develop projects in Macau and Britain, the Securities and Exchange Commission filing said.
The Venetian Casino has 4,027 suites, 2,000 slot machines and 1.8 million square feet of meeting space. In 2007, the company plans to open the Palazzo Casino Resort in Las Vegas, a 50-floor hotel that will have 3,025 rooms and a 105,000-square-foot gaming facility.
