Bloomberg has an article today saying that Las Vegas Sands has “all the money required to be able to complete the project.” And thanks to the global economic slowdown, according to the raw materials pipeline is finally starting to open up, which should alleviate some of the hurdles the company has faced during the construction.
And the timeline: Continue Reading »
According to this article, an unnamed spokesman for Resorts World at Sentosa has said that there is no change to the opening timeframe of the casino. The phased opening in 2009 is on track.
Even in these turbulent credit markets, Genting was able to secure financing for its Sentosa Island casino in Singapore. Las Vegas Sands has already received financing for its casino, which together with Genting, make up both of the Singapore casinos.
Genting announced that it has secured S$4.2 billion ($3 billion) to build and run a casino in Singapore. Genting said the funding, comprising S$4 billion in loans and S$192.5 million in bankers’ guarantee facility, is not expected to affect its earnings in the current financial year.
Genting is building a casino on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa for nearly S$6 billion, about S$800 million above its initial budget, due to mainly higher building expenses amid a booming construction sector in the city-state.
Apparently the 4,000 casino hotel rooms being built are just a drop in the bucket for Singapore. According to a CNN article,
“Kim Eng Securities property analyst Wilson Liew believes there is unlikely to be a major oversupply of hotel rooms — the increase in supply will be soaked up by the anticipated increase in tourist arrivals.
‘The situation is not likely to ease up even as the two integrated resorts become operational, injecting some 4,300 rooms into the market by 2010. The STB estimated in June that there would still be a shortfall of 4,000 rooms (to meet its tourism targets),’ said Liew.
Next year alone Singapore will see the opening of several new projects set to entice visitors to its shores. These include the Singapore Flyer, a giant Ferris wheel similar to the London Eye, and three new shopping malls to claim its stake as a shopping paradise.”
Honeywell is hoping to sell its new casino security system to Genting and Las Vegas Sands for their Marina Bay and Sentosa Island casino projects. The new technology, called “video analytics”, is already in place at MGM’s new Detroit casino.
The new system can track the movement of objects or individuals, and after being pre-programmed, set off alarms when something is amiss.
One added benefit would be that the new system can be used for marketing as well.
Each new casino in Macau comes with a new round of superlatives. The Venetian, opened in August, claims to be the world’s second largest building and boasts the biggest ever casino floor.
Hong Kong’s Galaxy Entertainment Group, which is run by Australians, is busy shipping in sand for the world’s largest rooftop beach. The wave pool, which will sit above the casino, is expected to be bigger than a football field.
James Packer’s Crown Macau sells itself as the city’s first ever six-star resort and the tallest building on Taipa Island.
Meanwhile, in Singapore the world’s two most expensive casino developments are under construction and the island nation will have the lowest tax rate for VIP gambling, at just Continue Reading »
News has been slow so I thought I’d look back…
Kerzner-CapitaLand and Genting Group have each proposed over US$3.2billion for a resort on the island of Sentosa in Singapore. Each company is vying to develop the harbour front area of the island. However, each has opted to develop an marine park containing marine mammals among other sea life.
Kerzner-CapitaLand has proposed the “world’s biggest aquarium” containing 24.2 million gallons of water which is to be stocked with 150,000 animals including beluga whales, manta rays and whale sharks. In addition, the company is proposing robotic plants and animals which will interact with visitors.
Similarly Genting is putting forward plans for an oceanarium built over 20 acres of land, more precise details are as yet unclear.
The Marine Connection is disappointed that such large aquaria have been proposed. Many of the animals, including the whale sharks, will come from the wild and this poses a danger not only to the animals being captured but their group and their haitat. As a dolphin and whale charity, we are particularly concerned that there are plans to incorporate animals such as beluga whales which are inherently unsuited to captivity considering their nature as an Arctic species which is specifically adapted to dive to over 400m and travel over hundreds of miles.
Kerzner-CapitaLand is suggesting using robotic animals and plants within their exhibits and the Marine Connection would suggest that only robotic animals should be used for a truly forward-thinking and conceptual resort. This will allow true education without any exploitation of the ocean and animals that the world is trying to protect.
Source:MarineConnection.com
What credit market problems. Las Vegas Sands is hoping to borrow a lot of money to help finance the construction of its Marina Bay casino in Singapore. Here are a few excerpts from a cnn.com article.
U.S. gaming giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) has mandated eight banks to arrange a S$5 billion ($3.3 billion) debt facility, the largest high-yield syndicated loan for a project in Asia ex-Japan in several years, two bankers close to the deal said Friday.
Las Vegas Sands will use the money for the construction of the Marina Bay Sands casino in Singapore.
The financing follows a recent upheaval in global credit markets that peaked in August when central banks around the world made cash injections and the Federal Reserve took unexpected easing measures to ensure ample liquidity.
“In general banks can’t afford to ignore what’s happening in the U.S. or Europe,” one of the bankers said. “Investors will be more choosey in the deals they invest in, but Singapore is definitely at the top of everyone’s list.”
The loan is expected to be denominated entirely in Singapore dollars and will be the largest ever syndicated loan in the currency.
In addition to Marina Bay Sands and one other casino resort, Singapore plans other attractions including its first Formula 1 gran prix next year as part of a move to add “buzz and excitement” to the tightly-controlled state.
The following is taken from the LVRJ.com describing an interview a Las Vegas Sands exec had regarding their Marina Bay casino in Singapore. One can’t help but wonder if the other Singapore casino, Resort World at Sentosa, is having the same difficulty.
A day after opening the $2.4 billion Venetian Macau in China, Las Vegas Sands Corp. officials said costs had risen on the company’s Singapore project.
In an interview with Asian media attending the opening of the resort on Macau’s Cotai Strip, Las Vegas Sands President Bill Weidner said construction costs on the Marina Bay Sands may rise some 20 percent to 40 percent above the original $3.6 billion budget by the time the hotel-casino is completed in 2009.
Higher construction costs, the price of sand, and design changes in the project are being blamed for the increase. In January, Indonesia banned the export of sand to Singapore, while stricter checks on barges also disrupted granite supplies.
“We’re struggling, quite frankly, to stay within our budget,” Weidner told a Singapore newspaper.
A 40 percent increase would add $1.4 billion to the cost of the planned 2,500-room hotel, which will have 1.2 million square feet of convention space, a 1 million square-foot retail center and three entertainment venues.
Here’s a good article discussing the state of commercial and residential development in Singapore. With the US subprime mortgage mess affecting the US stock market and other world indices, along with the recent new about Melco PBL’s increased borrowing costs, its probably a good idea to keep an eye on this to see if there will be any impact on the Singapore casinos’ developments.