GGRAsia – Sands China flags new notes as Aug loss doubles versus July

Sands China flags new notes as Aug loss doubles versus July

Sep 09, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd stated in a Thursday filing it planned an offering of senior notes to professional investors. The statement came shortly after it announced its August loss had roughly doubled from July.

The firm said it would use the net proceeds from the offering – in an amount and at an interest rate yet to be disclosed – as well as cash on hand, to redeem in full the outstanding principal amount of the firm’s US$1.80-billion, 4.600-percent 2023 notes, as well as “any accrued interest and the associated make-whole premium as determined under the related senior notes indenture” dated August 9, 2018.

Barclays Capital Inc, Bank of America Securities Inc, and Goldman Sachs and Co LLC, have been appointed as joint bookrunners, said Sands China in its filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Sands China plans to list the new notes on the Hong Kong bourse, and says it has received an eligibility letter from the exchange on that point.

On Wednesday, Sands China had told the bourse that its monthly net loss had roughly doubled to US$125 million in August, versus a loss of US$63 million in July. Nonetheless, such results were still an improvement on the prior-year period performance.

“From the end of July 2021 and for most of August 2021, tighter border restrictions were implemented in Macau, affecting visitation to our properties,” said the firm in its Wednesday filing.

That was a reference to an alert in Macau, after it as disclosed on August 3 that four members of the same family in the city had tested positive for the Delta variant of Covid-19.

In August, Sands China swung to a loss in terms of adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), amounting to US$14 million, versus positive adjusted EBITDA of US$44 million in July.

The firm reported net revenues of US$148 million in August, down from US$265 million in July.

As of August 31, the group had total liquidity of US$2.56 billion, consisting of US$556 million of total cash and cash equivalents, and US$2.0 billion of available borrowing capacity under its 2018 revolving facility.