Speaking during the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Sands’ CEO Sheldon Adelson commented: “Everybody, local Japanese, business people, banks, say we have the leading position in Japan because of my background. I used to produce Comdex show in Japan, and I also helped them to redesign the biggest exhibition center they have in Japan called Makuhari Messe. And when they went to build that in the 1980s, the Governor of Chiba, in which Makuhari is located, came to my office in Boston and I helped them redesign the exhibition center.”
“So I’ve got a good background and reputation in Japan for being the leading MICE Integrated Resort developer and operator. And I think that the estimates by people who know, say that we’re in the number one pole position. We have powerful reference site for emerging jurisdictions considering large scale integrated resort developments,” Adelson added.
Robert Goldstein, Sands’ President added: “We don’t have a timetable. We wait for the government to direct us as to how to go forward. But we’ve had a presence there for over a decade and we’re eager to be there. I think our plan is simple. We have the balance sheet. We have the reference point IRs in both Macao and Singapore that the Japanese government look to.”
“We have the defining MICE space in Macau and Singapore and we have the defining entertainment activity in those places. The buildings we built in Macau are pretty extraordinary too. I think, again, strategically what makes this company different is our balance sheet and Sheldon’s ability to figure out what to build and where to build it. What he built in Macao remains the reference point for Asian IRs. We have the balance sheet. We have the reference sites. We sure have the appetite and we just want to get started. So we’re hoping the government moves forward. We’ll wait for their direction and adhere to their advice.”
GMB / G3 Newswire
