Casino group Las Vegas Sands Corp intends to keep its headquarters and its current stock listing in the United States, a spokesman told GGRAsia in response to our enquiry.
“The company plans to continue to maintain listing and headquarters in the U.S.,” said Ron Reese, the group’s senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs, in an email received by GGRAsia on Thursday morning Macau time.
GGRAsia’s enquiry on those matters was prompted by news on Wednesday that the group would sell off its Las Vegas, Nevada gaming and non-gaming assets for US$6.25 billion.
Robert Goldstein, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, had been quoted in a press release on Wednesday saying that the brand was still interested in “development opportunities domestically” in the U.S. But he had also added: “Asia remains the backbone of this company and our developments in Macau and Singapore are the centre of our attention.”
Mr Goldstein was confirmed recently as successor to the company’s late founder Sheldon Adelson, who died in January. Brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd observed in a memo shortly after the founder’s death that the Adelson family and associated trusts held a 56.6-percent controlling interest in Las Vegas Sands.
In our Thursday enquiry, GGRAsia had asked the parent company whether it might consider – among other things – moving its headquarters to Asia or seeking a fresh listing within Asia, in the aftermath of the planned Las Vegas sell-off.
The group’s Macau gaming operation is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange via its unit Sands China Ltd.
The group’s Singapore operation Marina Bay Sands – via Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd – does not have its own listing.
Sanford Bernstein said in a Wednesday note, that the sale of Las Vegas assets might aid the return of dividends for the parent firm.
