ADELSON PLANNING MACAU LEASE-BACK WORTH $1.3 BILLION?

Apr 27, 2009 (SmarTrend(R) News Watch via COMTEX) -- According to a report in the South China Morning post that cited unidentified sources, Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) is debating the sale of a stake in its Macau casino in a lease-back transaction worth as much as $1.3 billion. Details of the report indicated that Las Vegas Sands may sell the building but continue to run operations at the casino under its gambling license and make performance-based payments to its new landlord. The move comes in the wake of a chapter 11 bankruptcy scare last fall, when the company's Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson had to step in and pump more of his own money into the casino operator to avoid bankruptcy.