NEW YORK (Trefis) -- Las Vegas Sands(LVS_) is contemplating building a $2 billion tourism complex in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
According to reports, the project will roughly be of the same scale as LVS' Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore and will be an integrated resort that would include hotels, restaurants, exhibitions, conferences, shopping center, and a variety of other entertainment and recreational facilities.
LVS benefits from being relatively more geographically diversified than its most prominent competitors. LVS, whose presence spans the U.S., Macau and Singapore, competes with Wynn Resorts(WYNN_), MGM Resorts International(MGM_), SJM and Genting Singapore.
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/11347031/1/las-vegas-sands-eyes-vietnam.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NAWe believe LVS's wide geographical presence has helped it in stabilizing source revenues and withstand rough economic times. For instance, the impact from the recent economic recession that hit LVS' Las Vegas operations was mitigated by the substantial growth of the Macau gaming industry, where it runs the Venetian Macao, the Sands Macao and the Four Seasons Hotel.
LVS is one of the two resorts which were awarded licenses by the Singapore government to operate in the country and, together with Genting Singapore, enjoys a duopoly in Singapore. Marina Bay Sands has posted solid revenues since its inception and helped LVS in posting strong top line numbers.
We consider LVS' prospective plans of building a resort in Vietnam as a good strategic move as this would provide LVS a first-mover advantage as the first of the prominent casinos to have a presence in Vietnam.