Yahoo Finance Marina Bay Sands said to seek up to S$10 billion loan for growth
By Elffie Chew and Ameya Karve
(Bloomberg) — Marina Bay Sands Pte plans to tap banks for a loan of as much as S$10 billion ($7.5 billion) as the luxury casino operator seeks to expand its hotel and entertainment business.
The Las Vegas Sands Corp.-owned resort may start marketing the deal as early as next quarter, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private. The plan will include the rollover of a delayed drawdown facility, refinancing of existing loans and new debt.
Las Vegas Sands denied the report. “We are neither in the market or looking for S$10 billion in loans,” said Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications for Las Vegas Sands.
If the deal size reaches the maximum, that would mark the biggest-ever syndicated loan in Singapore funded in the local dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The jumbo financing plan would complement Marina Bay Sands’ rebound from the pandemic as Singapore faces an influx of tourists, including those from mainland China.
Terms of the deal may change as deliberations are at a preliminary stage, the people said.
Its parent said in an October filing that the cost for the Singapore casino operator’s expansion plan, which includes a hotel tower with luxury rooms and convention facilities, will “materially exceed” the initially estimated amount of S$4.5 billion due to inflation, and higher material and labor costs.
Like its earlier loan in 2019, Singapore lenders — DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank Ltd. — along with Maybank Securities Pte may be the lead mandated arrangers and bookrunners in the new deal before it’s broadly syndicated to other lenders, the people said.
While a bulk of the new deal will be used to refinance its existing debt, Marina Bay Sands will look to borrow an additional amount of as much as S$2 billion as part of the package, the people said.
A previous syndicated loan record in Singapore was a S$9.3 billion facility signed in 2012, which backed the acquisition of food and beverage maker Fraser & Neave Ltd. by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Assets Ltd.
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