GGRAsia – LVS unit amends US$3.9bln Marina Bay Sands loan facility

LVS unit amends US$3.9bln Marina Bay Sands loan facility

Mar 20, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck

A unit of U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp has amended and restated with banking partners certain term loans and revolving loans negotiated by the group for use by its Singapore casino resort, Marina Bay Sands (pictured).

As of Monday’s announcement, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission, the maturity of the term loans has been extended by approximately three-and-a-half years to March 29, 2024, from August 28, 2020. The maturity of the revolving loans has been extended by about the same length of time, to September 29, 2023, from February 28, 2020.

In a June 25, 2012 filing, the casino firm had described the relevant bank facilities as having an aggregate value of SGD5.1 billion (US$3.9 billion at current exchange rates) consisting of term loans worth SGD4.6 billion, and a SGD500-million revolving credit facility. They were available to be drawn on for 65 months from that date.

Monday’s amended and restated agreement is between Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd and a syndicate of banks with Singapore-based DBS Bank Ltd as agent.

“We are happy to conclude this refinancing,” said a prepared statement attributed to Sheldon Adelson, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, in a press release issued separately on Monday.

“Through efforts like this, and others, our company will continue to fortify the strength of our industry-leading balance sheet. As a result, we will continue to be extremely well positioned to aggressively pursue new development opportunities and to increase the return of capital to shareholders,” Mr Adelson was further quoted saying.

Under the fresh arrangement, the amortisation schedule for the term loans was amended to provide for 0.5 percent due at the end of each quarter beginning with the second quarter of 2018 until – and including – the first quarter of 2022; 5 percent due at the end of each quarter beginning with the second quarter of 2022 until – and including – the first quarter of 2023, and 18 percent due at the end of each quarter beginning with the second quarter of 2023 until – and including – the term loan maturity date of March 29, 2024.

A leverage covenant was also amended with a provision that leverage “shall not exceed [a ratio of] 4.00 to 1.0 on the last day of each fiscal quarter”, added the document.

This month, at the 2018 JP Morgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant and Leisure Management Access Forum held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States, Daniel Briggs, senior vice president of investor relations for the Las Vegas Sands group, noted to investors: “This company is not a big financial engineer… We try to allocate capital prudently.”