Making moves
Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s widow is selling $2bn worth of Las Vegas Sands (LVS) stock to help finance the purchase of the Dallas Mavericks. Miriam Adelson reportedly plans to buy a majority stake in the NBA team from billionaire Mark Cuban.
Adelson family currently controls about 56% of LVS
The stock that she is selling represents about 10% of her total holdings in the company, which has a market cap of $36.4bn. The Adelson family currently controls about 56% of LVS, dropping to 46% after the stock sale.
The SEC filing explained that the transaction was “to fund the purchase of a majority interest” in an unnamed professional sports franchise. The company’s share price closed down almost 2% for the day and experienced a further 5% drop in after-market trading.
An interesting prospective deal
The cost of Adelson buying a majority interest in the Mavericks is reported to be around $3.5bn. Mark Cuban has been the team owner since January 2000, originally acquiring the franchise for just $285m. With advanced talks underway, Cuban will reportedly hold onto a smaller stake in the team and still have total control over the basketball operations.
The NBA Board of Governors has to vet prospective new owners and approve any such deal before it becomes official. This entire process would likely take a number of weeks to complete.
Casinos potentially coming to Texas
Cuban has outlined his interest in building a new arena for the team in Dallas as part of a casino resort. Commercial casinos are currently illegal in Texas, with companies like LVS spending millions of dollars lobbying for this to change.
Lawmakers in the state have been considering allowing Las Vegas-style casinos in major cities, including Dallas. Cuban has supported this proposal and said he would partner with LVS if such a project became a reality. ?
The Nevada-based LVS currently owns the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and numerous properties in Macau. It hopes to get one of three downstate New York casino licenses, proposing to develop a resort on Long Island.