Sands Pays $87M of $380M for Macau Land Lease

LAS VEGAS-Las Vegas Sands said Monday that it has made the initial US$87.5-million payment for two of five additional parcels in Macau, a special administrative region of China. The parcels are envisioned as five interconnected integrated resorts. The total payment for the first two parcels—known as parcels five and six—is US$380 million. Beyond that, the company will pay an additional US$500,000 annually while the first two parcels are under development and US$2.1 million per year upon completion, according to a Monday filing with the SEC.

Las Vegas Sands owns three operating casino resorts in Macau–the Venetian Macao, the Sands Macao and the Plaza. Sands Macau opened in 2004, followed by the Venetian Macau in 2007 and then the Plaza in 2008. It also owns CotaiArena, Macau’s largest entertainment venue and one of the largest convention and exhibition halls in Asia, and one of three major high-speed ferry companies operating between Hong Kong and Macau.

The company’s next phase of development is parcels five and six, for which it plans a 13-million-square-foot, US$4.3-billion integrated resort that would be completed in three phases, the first phase of which is partially completed. After that, it would develop one of the three remaining parcels with an additional 3,900 branded hotel rooms, and then it would develop the final two parcels with a project similar size and scope to the integrated resort located on parcels five and six.