Sands envisions $10-12b Yokohama investment

Thursday 24th of October 2019

Las Vegas Sands company logo is seen in front of its construction site in Macau

Las Vegas Sands executives told an earnings conference call that they are focusing attention on their Yokohama bid, which they envision will involve an investment of $10-12 billion.

“I think $10 billion is the starting point,” stated President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Goldstein, “And I don't think anybody's going to do for less than $10 billion, unless you're going to do something sub par.”

He added, “You know we have the balance sheet and the capability and the skill set to do it. The question is, can we get a return that?”

Emphasizing the amount of personal attention that he was giving to the bid, Goldstein also joked, “Patrick [Dumont] and I spent way too much time in Japan in the last six months. I feel like I could write a guide book!”

Asked about Sands’ shift away from Osaka, Goldstein stated, “We just thought Yokohama was just a better fit for our skill set.”

Although Sands is not known for making investment partnerships, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Patrick Dumont hinted that Japan may prove an exception: “It would be helpful for us to look in the Japan market and find partners that could be useful to assist in the overall development, and that could be partners that we trade with, that could be partners that invest with us. We're really meeting with people now.”

Las Vegas Sands’ July-September 2019 financial results were largely in line with analysts’ expectations, including consolidated net revenue of $3.25 billion and net income of $669 million for the quarter.