{"id":166492,"date":"2021-03-06T19:41:11","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T03:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=166492"},"modified":"2021-03-07T11:45:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T19:45:47","slug":"venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Sands Draws Mixed Reviews from Ratings Agencies on Venetian Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) announced the sale of the Venetian Resort and Sands Expo and Convention Center on the Strip for $6.25 billion, effectively eliminating, for now at least, its US portfolio.<\/p>\n

\"Las
Venetian Las Vegas. Credit agencies are mixed on the decision by Las Vegas Sands to sell the venue. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management is acquiring the operating rights to the Strip venues, while gaming real estate investment trust (REIT) VICI Properties is purchasing the property assets. Sell-side equity analysts broadly approve of the move<\/a> by LVS. But that uniformity doesn’t extend to two of three major credit ratings agencies.<\/p>\n

The day after the announcement, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service issued differing views on the gaming company’s decision to jettison the properties in the city with which it shares a name.<\/p>\n

Fitch sees the transaction as a slight credit negative. Positively, it provides LVS with additional liquidity and improves leverage on a net consolidated basis,\u201d said the research firm. \u201cNegatively, the asset sale reduces LVS’ contingent liquidity via having an ability to encumber its Las Vegas assets. The transaction also increases the gross leverage in near-to-medium term, marginally reduces diversification and raises some uncertainty with respect to the ultimate use of proceeds.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both credit raters have the lowest possible investment grades on the integrated resort operator.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Negative Outlook, But Some Positives, Too<\/h2>\n

Fitch has a \u201cnegative\u201d outlook on LVS’ BBB- credit rating, citing weak operating conditions in Macau and Singapore \u2013 the company’s remaining markets.<\/p>\n

\n

The research firm says those regions, which accounted for 91 percent of the operator’s earnings before, interest, taxes, deprecation and amortization in 2019, are unlikely to fully recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic prior to 2023. Equity analysts covering LVS widely believe at least a portion of the proceeds from the Las Vegas sales will be allocated to Macau<\/a> and Singapore properties. Even with the negative outlook, Fitch sees some positives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe total coverage of the US debt by the residual equity of the Asian subsidiaries, as well as the royalty fees paid to the parent by the Asian subsidiaries, remains robust pro forma for the transactions,\u201d said the research firm. \u201cIn addition, cash proceeds will be primarily used to invest in the existing or new subsidiaries, which should further expand the equity value accruing to the parent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moody’s More Bullish<\/h2>\n

Moody’s called the decision to part with Sands Convention Center <\/a>and the Venetian a \u201cmodest credit positive.\u201d That ratings agency also has a \u201cnegative\u201d outlook on Sands’ credit profile.<\/p>\n

The research firm adds the transaction gives LVS \u201csignificant additional capital, further enhancing liquidity while providing flexibility to continue to reinvest in Macau and Singapore, as well as pursue additional growth opportunities and debt reduction.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moody’s has a Baa3 rating Sands. US equity analysts believe it’s possible the operator could use some of the sale cash to partially restore a dividend that was suspended last year. It would use the funds to pursue new domestic projects in New York or Texas, and perhaps mull acquisitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) announced the sale of the Venetian Resort and Sands Expo and Convention Center on the Strip for $6.25 billion, effectively eliminating, for now at least, its US portfolio. Private equity firm Apollo Global Management is acquiring the operating rights to the Strip venues, while gaming real estate investment trust […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":166493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVenetian Sale Gains Mixed Reaction from Credit Firms<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sands Venetian sale brings in cash, but credit ratings firms are mixed on the transaction.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Venetian Sale Gains Mixed Reaction from Credit Firms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sands Venetian sale brings in cash, but credit ratings firms are mixed on the transaction.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-07T03:41:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-07T19:45:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/\",\"name\":\"Venetian Sale Gains Mixed Reaction from Credit Firms\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-07T03:41:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-07T19:45:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Sands Venetian sale brings in cash, but credit ratings firms are mixed on the transaction.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Venetian Las Vegas. Credit agencies are mixed on the decision by Las Vegas Sands to sell the venue. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Las Vegas Sands Draws Mixed Reviews from Ratings Agencies on Venetian Sale\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Venetian Sale Gains Mixed Reaction from Credit Firms","description":"Sands Venetian sale brings in cash, but credit ratings firms are mixed on the transaction.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Venetian Sale Gains Mixed Reaction from Credit Firms","og_description":"Sands Venetian sale brings in cash, but credit ratings firms are mixed on the transaction.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-03-07T03:41:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-07T19:45:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/","name":"Venetian Sale Gains Mixed Reaction from Credit Firms","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-07T03:41:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-07T19:45:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Sands Venetian sale brings in cash, but credit ratings firms are mixed on the transaction.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/venetian-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Venetian Las Vegas. Credit agencies are mixed on the decision by Las Vegas Sands to sell the venue. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/venetian-sale-gains-mixed-reaction-from-credit-firms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Las Vegas Sands Draws Mixed Reviews from Ratings Agencies on Venetian Sale"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}