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2009-07-24 03:35:25
By Sharanjit Leyl
Asia Business Report, BBC World
For gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson, $4bn ( 2.44bn) would once have seemed like
small change.
On last year's rich list, the chairman of the world's largest casino was ranked
as America's third wealthiest man, behind Microsoft founder Bill Gates and
investor Warren Buffett.
He has since fallen to 178th place.
The $4bn figure is roughly the amount Mr Adelson's company reportedly needs to
raise to restart stalled projects.
But finding the money is not proving easy.
Losing money
Mr Adelson's money problems emerged late last year when financial markets went
into a tailspin.
Shares in Las Vegas Sands, of which he owns two thirds, lost 95% of their
value.
In a BBC interview, Mr Adelson confesses to having taken money out of his
children's trust fund to buy up his own shares as they offered "opportunity".
Las Vegas Sands raised more than $2bn last year, with nearly half the money
purported to have come from Mr Adelson.
The projects he had undertaken in recent years - such as the construction of a
$12bn casino complex built on a reclaimed strip in Macau, and the more than
$5bn casino and convention space being put up in Singapore - were put into
doubt.
The Macau project was put on hold, leaving the massive buildings being
constructed unfinished, along with thousands of workers without jobs.
Mr Adelson says he hopes to restart it before the end of the year.
But building in Singapore continued after the city's government stepped in to
guarantee the successful completion of it.
Mr Adelson is quick to state in the interview that they did not help
financially.
Enough money
These days, Mr Adelson sometimes appears frail.
Money and I get along very well
Sheldon Adelson
During a recent "topping out" ceremony of the Marina Sands Bay project in
Singapore, journalists were warned not to door- step him for interviews or
photographs because he had difficulty walking.
His wife helped him up on stage for the ceremony where he walked with a cane.
But the 75-year old tycoon was animated during the press conference that
followed.
He was keen to dispel any more worries about money and when asked if it was
still a concern, he looked in his pocket and said "its close, but not exactly
enough to finish [the projects], but fortunately our chief financial officer is
here and he tells us we have all the money needed".
Government backers
The ceremony was held to commemorate the near completion of the three 55 floor
towers, which are due to open in early 2010.
But surrounding them there are still numerous cranes, massive sand piles and
other construction paraphernalia that dominate the area facing Singapore's
skyline.
If the project was to stall, it would quite literally leave a gaping hole in
the midst of the heart of the tiny city and squash its hopes to triple tourism
by 2015.
Hence the participation of Singapore's government, which Mr Adelson says was
helpful even though he has had to "pay a lot for the land, upfront".
"We have the ability to work three shifts a day 24 hours a day, seven days a
week," he says.
"Approvals and permits and efficiencies are from the government, as a result of
government interest."
Family money
Mr Adelson brushes aside questions about why government help was needed in the
first place, and he will not talk about how serious his money concerns are.
"If the company is going to sell shares, why shouldn't I take my own family
money and take advantage of that opportunity and buy the shares?" he queries.
"You're looking at it the other way - that I couldn't sell it to somebody else,
so I had to buy it myself.
"Three months ago, when our stock was $3, I took money out of my children's
trust fund, and I bought almost $40m more of our shares on the open market.
"Is that some sort of necessity? It wasn't necessity, it wasn't concern, it was
opportunity."
Raising money
Still, he admits that billions of dollars were needed to help his business out
of the crisis it faced last year.
"The coincidence of the start of the recession, the crash in the economy, all
happened at the same time," he says.
"It was no time to go out and spend money. We could have eliminated all of our
concerns by selling off the retail and the apartments.
"But because of the economic crisis, the price that we could sell that was too
low so we withdrew that as an offering in the market place.
"We waited until the market had turned up again. Now the market is positive
again, so we'll go back out and raise money."
Faltering fortune
Mr Adelson has said that he is keen to raise more money through a possible
initial public offering in Hong Kong or bond sales.
Las Vegas Sands now has the markets performance on its side.
After seeing its shares fall 95%, it has since recovered more than half their
value.
Mr Adelson is now worth just more than $3bn, according to Forbes, compared with
some $20bn last year.
Despite his recent financial problems, he says he does not have any problems
with money.
"We have no arguments, no confrontation," he jokes.
"Money and I get along very well."