Sands China in talks to delay Parcel 3 Macau resort deadline

The casino operator’s subsidiary, Sands China, is in talks to get an extension of the April 2013 time limit the government set to develop a plot called Parcel Three after granting property to build the resort, Melina Leong, a spokeswoman for the company said in a phone interview. The company said in a May U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing that it planned to seek the extension.

The deadline shows the hurdles facing casino operators as they expand in Macau, where gambling industry growth is slowing and officials control decisions on casino property.

Sands rivals Melco Crown Entertainment, SJM Holdings and MGM China Holdings are also awaiting land grants or government approvals for construction on the city’s Cotai strip.
“There is no way that Sands is going to meet the deadline,” said Grant Govertsen, an analyst at Union Gaming Group. “It takes three years to build an integrated resort.”

Sands China fell 3.5 percent compared with a 1.7 percent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. SJM dropped 0.8 percent and MGM China declined 2.4 percent.

The newest hotel on Parcel Three would be Sands’ biggest project after opening the us$ 5 billion Cotai Central resort in April in the world’s largest gambling hub. Macau officia ls in 2010 rejected Sands’ application to develop two other plots and the company last month said it withdrew its appeal of the decision.

Sands’s Parcel Three resort would boost the company’s presence on Cotai, a strip of reclaimed land where casino operators are adding resorts to draw more of the Chinese tourists who boosted Macau’s revenue 42 percent last year.