There is definitely no buyer’s remorse with the new owners of the Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip. In fact, private equity owners Apollo Global Management (AGM) are so satisfied with their purchase, they are looking at acquiring more Sin City casinos.
Sheldon Adelson and his Las Vegas Sands Corp. had expressed an interest as early as 2019 that it was looking to exit the Las Vegas area and focus its efforts in Asia.
The casino was put up for sale in October 2020. The sale closed in February 2022. AGM paid $6.25 billion for the Venetian, Palazzo, Expo Center and the LVS share of the MSG Sphere.
Things have gone so well for AGMl that they made a proposal to the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) recently to pay out a $620 million dividend.
NGCB board members expressed skepticism about the dividend, citing a possible recession. Those representing AGM at the meeting assured the NGCB that they were confident they could issue the dividend without any serious repercussions to their bottom line.
Robert Brimmer, CFO of the Venetian, told the NGCB that the property has had an “exceptional start” over the first eight months of ownership.
“We’re run-rating north of $600 million of (adjusted earnings) for the business relative to 2019,” Brimmer said. “We’re up 27 percent. This is a very broad-based recovery across our business. You’re aware of the strength in the gaming numbers, but the hotel, food and beverage, and most importantly our meeting and convention business is recovering very nicely. To us, it appears to be a very durable recovery and our most recent numbers for October were the best numbers we’ve had in the last 10 years.”
The NGCB did approve the dividend, which will be used for pension funds and other institutional investors.
Brimmer also told the NGCB that they plan to try and acquire other Las Vegas properties, but did not specify which ones.
“We’re always looking for M&A (mergers and acquisitions) to create network effects around the Venetian asset,” Brimmer said. “We think it could be a marquee asset you can build around with other regional assets or Vegas assets, so that’s something we’re analyzing as well.”
