RLPC-Goldman eyes Venetian Macau club loan-bankers

By Stephen Aldred and Foster Wong

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs is working on a club loan of up to $1 billion for troubled gaming firm Venetian Macau Ltd, ahead of next week's visit to Singapore and Macau by Las Vegas Sands Corp CEO, Sheldon Adelson, banking sources said on Friday.

Talks on the prospective financing are at a preliminary stage, but sources believe the loan would be linked to Venetian Macau's recently suspended development projects at sites five and six on the Cotai Strip.

A $5.25 billion financing for Venetian Macau was recently put on hold after parent Las Vegas Sands (LVS.N) suspended its Macau development in a move to improve the group's financial situation.

The $5.25 billion loan for borrowers Venetian Macau Finance Co and Venetian Macau US Finance Co LLC, had been earmarked for the casino giant Las Vegas Sands' current Macau project sites and for refinancing.

Las Vegas Sands Corp, one of Las Vegas' biggest operators, has been hit hard by the slowdown which cast doubt over its financial future, however auditors PWC this week announced that the company was viable after it raised capital last week to support its operations.

Any new loan would be likely to be completed on a club basis, sources said, but bankers are mixed about the feasibility of the project in the deteriorating economic environment.

Some bankers said that the recent $2.1 billion equity injection into Las Vegas Sands had stabilised the company and would prevent covenant breaches.

Others noted ongoing concerns about Macau's gaming sector and credit concerns around parent Las Vegas Sands.

Bankers highlighted the secondary trading levels of a $2 billion loan for Venetian Macau US Finance as a guideline to the premium that the company would pay for new funds in the current market.

The $2 billion seven-year term loan that was signed in 2006 is trading at 71.43 percent of face value, according to the October Reuters LPC Asia Pacific Secondary Loan Composite, which implies an all-in spread of 900 basis points for the new loan.

The existing $2 billion loan was priced at 350 bps over LIBOR and had three tranches -- a HK$1.95 billion-equivalent in US dollars or HK$ revolving credit with a commitment fee of 125 bps; a HK$33.15 billion-equivalent in US dollars or HK$ term loan with an average life of four years; and a HK$5.85 billion-equivalent in US dollars or HK$ delayed drawn term loan with a commitment fee of 175 bps.

Banco Nacional Ultramarino, Bank of China Macau, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and UOB were the global lead coordinating arrangers. (Reporting by Stephen Aldred and Foster Wong; editing by Simon Jessop)