Hello Pezz, Time to Play:
I bought a batch of shares normally more in your line of sight (or should), the name is CARDIOVASCULAR BIOTHERAPY finance.yahoo.com at USD 12.6-13.6/shr ... I know nothing about it, except many of its pre-IPO investors are doctors, and so figured "what the h" to the extent that I figured at all.
Update: the news from Macau continues to be bullish, although much work remains to be done. Just as mainland Chinese tourists seem bent on making me better off in Mongkok, whether by visiting its restaurants or brothels, I figure regional tourists and Vegas operations will make me not worse off, whether by visiting Macau casinos or houses of not-very-good-reputation.
Hedonism has generally been profitable:
online.wsj.com
Deals Would Add
Big Hotel Brands
To Macau Strip
Sands Aims to Buttress
Its Casino With Properties
Run by Marriott, Others
By PETER SANDERS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 14, 2005; Page A10
Nearly two years after announcing plans to develop a Las Vegas-style strip in Asia's gambling hotbed of Macau, Las Vegas Sands Corp. is in advanced discussions to bring a number of leading hotel brands to the area, many of them to be accompanied by a Sands-operated casino.
People familiar with the discussions said the companies include Marriott International Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., Four Seasons Hotels Inc. and Intercontinental Hotels Group. It is part of a bid by Las Vegas Sands to buttress its own planned $1.8 billion casino, which is under construction, with other hotel and casino properties, to be built on an undeveloped site adjacent to the territory's international airport.
The hotels would manage the properties -- and in some cases have an equity stake -- while Las Vegas Sands would operate the casinos, meeting spaces and convention centers under concessionaire agreements and the gambling license issued by the Macau government in 2002.
Company officials said investors, hotel executives and local government officials plan to deliver a public update soon about developments on the first phase of a three-phase, $10 billion project to be built on land reclaimed from the Pearl River Delta.
The project, dubbed the Cotai strip, began in earnest last June when construction started on Las Vegas Sands's flagship resort, the Venetian Macao. The $1.8 billion Venetian -- with an initial 1,500 all-suite room layout; one million square feet of meeting space; a 15,000-seat arena; and a large casino -- is on track for a spring 2007 opening, according to company officials.
Separately, the company will host U.S. analysts this week on a tour of the Cotai strip development and the already opened and recently expanded Sands Casino in central Macau.
William Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, said signed deals are "a matter of a few weeks" away.
Marriott International's chief financial officer, Arne Sorenson, acknowledged that Marriott has had discussions with Las Vegas Sands about developing properties in Macau, but he wouldn't comment on the status of any potential deals. A person familiar with the matter said Marriott likely would operate one of its more upscale brands -- possibly a JW Marriott or Renaissance.
A Starwood spokeswoman said the company is in "continuing negotiations" with a focus on developing a Sheraton or W brand hotel on the Cotai strip. Four Seasons and Intercontinental declined to comment about specific developments in Asia, though both companies said the market remains a top target.
For Las Vegas Sands, based in Las Vegas, any deal would strengthen its attempt to create a Macau version of the famed Vegas strip in a region with potentially more than half a billion traveling gamblers, according to various estimates. The Cotai strip, on land between the two southern Macau islands of Coloane and Taipa, is still very much a work in progress. It is a manmade site that uses sand from offshore to create an artificial island. The operation continues on the west side of the U-shaped development, while on the east, workers have completed work on about 60% of the 2,800 concrete piles needed to shore the foundation of the new Venetian.
People familiar with the discussions said plans under consideration would place a Four Seasons and Intercontinental hotel in the same area as the Venetian, while Marriott, Starwood and others would be on the opposite end. The first phase of the project, which Las Vegas Sands hopes to be completed sometime in 2007, calls for about 11,500 hotel rooms.
Much of the development's success hinges on continued cooperation with the local government of Macau, which exists as a Special Administrative Region of China since Portugal returned its former colony to Chinese control in 1999. Though the master plan calls for an eventual 60,000 hotel rooms and multiple megaresorts, the government has cautioned Las Vegas Sands to "take it one step at a time," Mr. Weidner says.
Write to Peter Sanders at peter.sanders@wsj.com1
Chugs, Jay |
