Las Vegas Sands - New Casino IPO

From the Trader Wizard's Daily Show 12/9

Interesting IPO to keep an eye on.

A new company to be known as the Las Vegas Sands Corp plans an IPO of about 23.8 million shares of common stock plus an underwriter's 15 percent green shoe option to purchase 3.5 million shares. That would put 27.3 million shares out, which is a small float given that friends and family will keep many of these shares off the market for years.

Las Vegas Sands owns the highly profitable Venetian mega-resort on the Las Vegas Strip and a major new hotel and casino in Macau, nearby Hong Kong. Expected proceeds of about $536.8 million, at the IPO price of about $21, will be used to build a $1.6 billion, 3,000-room Palazzo mega-resort next to the Venetian.

The Palazzo is expected to open in 2007. The combined Palazzo, Venetian and Sands Expo and Convention Center would be the largest resort and hotel complex in the world, with more than 7,000 hotel rooms and suites.

At an IPO price of $21, LVS would have a market capitalization of about $6.8 billion, making it the third-largest gambling company in the world behind Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE: HET) and MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGG) if their proposed mergers are approved.

The Las Vegas Sands has already been approved for listing on the NYSE under the symbol "LVS." I expect the IPO will be hot.