Las Vegas Sands shares off after weak Macau debut

Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam attend the debut of the company at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange November 30, 2009.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS.N) slumped 2 percent on Monday after the U.S. casino operator's Macau unit made a weak debut in Hong Kong trading.

While some analysts said the weakness could reflect cooling interest in casinos, Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Robert LaFleur said it was too early to write off Macau, the world's biggest and fastest-growing gambling market.

"Nothing fundamentally has changed in the Chinese casino market in Macau," LaFleur said.

Sands China (1928.HK) shares dropped 10 percent in their Hong Kong market debut on Monday, the fourth-worst Hong Kong debut this year. The company's $2.5 billion IPO came amid global market skittishness in the wake of last week's selloff over a debt crisis in Dubai.

LaFleur said the Dubai concerns were affecting the entire economy.

"When you have renewed concerns about over-leveraged entities and their ability to fulfill their obligations, I think a suspect eye is cast on every entity with a lot of leverage and exposure to the credit markets," LaFleur said. "Clearly, Las Vegas Sands is a fairly highly leveraged entity and would sort of fall into that category."

LaFleur also said that Sands China and the Wynn Macau (1128.HK) unit of U.S. rival Wynn Resorts (WYNN.O) were priced at healthy multiples. Wynn Macau has fallen more than 5 percent since its $1.87 billion listing in October.

"Both these IPOs priced at pretty healthy multiples, and seeing it pull back a little bit from that is not a shock given the global financial concerns," LaFleur said.

Las Vegas Sands shares were off 33 cents to $15.46 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading, while Wynn Resorts was up 56 cents to $63.54. MGM Mirage was flat at $10.56.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; editing by John Wallace)