Macau casino operator Sands China said in a filing on Monday that it would have access to $1 billion in subordinated unsecured loans from its parent company, Las Vegas Sands Corporation (LVS).

The transaction took effect on Monday (July 11) and the loan will be repaid on July 11, 2028, the company announced after share trading hours in Hong Kong,

Sands China said the agreement “emphasizes the company’s confidence in both Las Vegas Sands and Macau’s long-term growth potential, and its loan potential further strengthens the company’s balance sheet status and liquidity.” 경마사이트

Las Vegas Sands, which closed its $6.25 billion disposal of Las Vegas properties in Nevada earlier this year, owns about 70% of Sands China’s issued stock capital.

Investment analyst comments on liquidity for six casino operators in Macau have frequently been made amid recent periodic COVID-19 alerts in mainland China or Macau.

“We will extend Sands China’s liquidity runway to a total of 15 months (to September 2023) even under zero-sales assumptions (i.e., net cash burnout without gross gaming revenue), JPMorgan Securities (Asia Pacific) said in a note commenting on the loan on Monday

According to analysts DS Kim and Livy Liu, “This would be more than enough liquidity [in the Macau market] to weather this downturn, as we cautiously expect meaningful easing of travel policy to begin slowly from late 2022/early 2023.”

Started shutting down Macau’s gaming venues for a week to prevent COVID-19 transmission in the community.

A new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) was reported in mainland China over the weekend. The neighboring Guangdong provinces of Shanghai and Macau, and the provinces of Guangzhou and Dongguan were included.

In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, Sands China noted that the parent’s loan “will, among other things, support the working capital and general corporate purposes of the group.”

The loan may be repaid early by Sands China “in whole or in part without a fine”.

For the first two years of the loan facility, Sands China will have the option to pay cash interest at 5% per annum or 6% per annum “by adding the amount of such interest to the outstanding principal amount of the loan at that time.” After that, Sands China said, “We will only pay 5% annual cash interest.”

In a note on Monday’s deal, JPMorgan said the terms of the loan “seem to be in a significant advantage” for Sands China.