GGRAsia – Asian American Ent asks for US$7.5bln-plus in LVS case

Asian American Ent asks for US$7.5bln-plus in LVS case

Jan 24, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

A former business partner of Las Vegas Sands Corp says it should be entitled to no less than US$7.5 billion for damages resulting from an alleged breach of agreements during Las Vegas Sands’ successful bid in 2002 for a casino licence in Macau.

Asian American Entertainment Corp, a company led by Taiwan entrepreneur Marshall Hao Shi-sheng, is suing three entities linked to United States-based Las Vegas Sands. The case is being heard by Macau’s Court of First Instance.

Jorge Menezes, a Macau lawyer representing Asian American Entertainment, said on Friday during closing arguments that the US$7.5-billion figure was based on two independent damage reports regarding potential profits that Asian American Entertainment had missed out on because of not getting a Macau casino licence in partnership with Las Vegas Sands.

Mr Menezes added that the final compensation amount due to Asian American Entertainment should be higher than US$7.5-billion “based on reasons of fairness and discretion.”

In its claim, Asian American Entertainment argued it was entitled to MOP96.45 billion (US$12.06 billion) in compensation. The sum represented allegedly-lost profits for the firm from 2004 to 2018 due to what it claimed it was owed by Las Vegas Sands.

Las Vegas Sands’ side is to present it final arguments on Wednesday.

The lawsuit was originally filled in January 2012, but faced multiple delays. In its original claim, Asian American Entertainment claimed MOP3 billion as compensation for damages resulting from the alleged breach of agreements by Las Vegas Sands. But in July 2019, Mr Hao’s company requested the court to increase the amount of its claim to about US$12 billion, allegedly representing lost profits from 2004 to 2018.

At an earlier stage of the tender process, units of Las Vegas Sands had teamed up with Asian American Entertainment for the Macau venture; but later the United States-based group switched to a partnership with Hong Kong entrepreneur Lui Che Woo, via an entity called Galaxy Casino SA, now under Macau casino firm Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd.

In December 2002, the Macau government allowed an amendment to the Galaxy entity’s concession contract, so that a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands was granted a sub-concession spun off the original Galaxy licence.