Las Vegas Sands may try for a Chinese IPO

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) has gambled big on Macau, and like most high-rollers who stay in the game when the cards turn sour, it is being forced to scramble for cash to stay in the game. After failing to find an angel to buy or take a healthy stake in the Sands' holdings in China, it is now considering an IPO on the properties. According to The Wall Street Journal, the company has hired Goldman Sachs Group (GS) to evaluate such a deal, probably to be offered on the Hong Kong exchange.

Las Vegas Sands recently reported the fifth successive quarter of negative results, losing over $34 million in the first quarter of this year alone. Dismal as these figures are, they are a big improvement over the disaster of the previous quarter, when the company lost $111 million. It paid over $85 million alone in interest in the first quarter of 2009, and carries over $10 billion in long-term debt. The fact that the company suggested that its recent performance shows the gaming market is beginning to recover is a sad commentary on how far it has fallen.