Last week, the company provided additional detail with regard to the supplemental financing, explaining that Sands Macau has been seeking commitments for US$1.75 billion in project financing and recently received commitments from a group of commercial banks and financial institutions to provide US$1.45 billion. The company says it is actively seeking commitments from other commercial banks and financial institutions to provide the remaining US$300 million in financing.

Construction is expected to resume in January. The company estimates it will take 18 months to compete the first phase and an additional six months to complete the second phase hotel tower and an additional 24 months to complete the remaining retail facilities planned for the second phase. As of mid year, Sands had capitalized construction costs of approximately US$1.7 billion for the two parcels. If the supplemental financing is obtained, it expects to spend an additional US$2.2 million to complete the first two phases.

The US$2-billion first phase of Parcels 5 and 6 would include 3,700 rooms in two hotel towers [flying Sheraton, Shangri-La and Traders flags], 300,000 square feet of casino area and approximately 1.2 million square feet consisting of retail, entertainment and dining facilities, meeting space and a multi-purpose theater. The first phase also includes the structural work for an adjacent 2,300-room Sheraton hotel tower that would be fit out in the $190-million second phase along with some of the remaining retail facilities. The US$443-million third phase is slated to include a luxury St. Regis-branded hotel and condo-hotel tower.

Macau, a special administrative region of China, is the only place in the county where gambling is legal. The gambling industry there started in 1962 when the government issued a single license to Stanley Ho. The monopoly ended in 2002 and several licenses were handed out. In 2006, the market surpassed Las Vegas as the world's largest gaming market.