What is Las Vegas Sands selling, to whom and at what price?
Recent weeks have been hot and heavy with speculation about what Las Vegas Sands may or may not be selling in Macau, at what price, and to whom.
Analysts expect that the casino developer, controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, will run into more trouble with its bankers this year unless it is able to boost profits by slashing costs and/or raising new finance by selling stuff.
Recent talks with potential buyers for the company's half-finished 6,400-room Sheraton and Shangri-La hotel complex on Cotai have yet to result in a deal, and All In suspects a wide chasm between asking and offer price will take some time to close.
The sale of residential units at its Four Seasons development appears to be moving along, albeit slowly. The process has been complicated by the reluctance of Macau banks to issue mortgages to would-be buyers of the pricey apartment-hotel units. Lenders have hesitated because the buyers won't acquire strata title but shares in a company that owns the flats.
And then there is the potential sale of the company's shopping malls in Asia, which span 1.3 million sq ft between the Venetian and Four Seasons hotels in Macau.