LOS ANGELES - BILLIONAIRE Sheldon Adelson has doubled down on his half-billion dollar bet this fall on Las Vegas Sands in a plan intended to keep the company from defaulting on its debt and falling into bankruptcy.

The plan for infusing US$2.14 billion (S$3.22 billion) in new capital into the company dramatically reduces Mr Adelson's controlling stake even as he agreed to invest another US$525 million.

The company will not seek shareholder approval for the emergency plan it announced on Tuesday, even though it more than doubles the number of outstanding shares, massively diluting their value for current shareholders, claiming an exception in New York Stock Exchange rules.

The company warned that any delay caused by getting shareholder approval 'would seriously jeopardise the ability to complete the offerings as well as the financial viability of the company.'

The transactions are set to close on Friday.

Trading in the Las Vegas-based company's stock on the New York'Stock Exchange was halted briefly on Tuesday. It closed down 33 per cent, or $2.66, at US$5.34, after trading resumed. The stock has traded between US$4.32 and US$122.96 during the past 52 weeks.

Analysts greeted the plan with caution.

'We view the capital raise as a mixed blessing,' Morgan Stanley analyst Celeste Mellet Brown said in a research note.

'While it appears the company has alleviated bankruptcy risk, it has done so at a heavily dilutive price.'

'In this market, capital comes at a high price,' noted Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steven Wieczynski, 'and Las Vegas Sands is certainly paying for it.'

The company said it would raise US$1 billion in capital by selling 181.8 million new shares at US$5.50 apiece and another US$519.6 million in the form of new preferred stock priced at US$100 each.

Mr Adelson, the 75-year-old founder and chief executive, will buy with his wife Miriam US$525 million in preferred stock and must convert into common stock the US$475 million in convertible notes they purchased a month ago.

Investors in the preferred shares, including the Adelsons, received with each one a five-year option to buy another 16.7 common shares at US$6 - which could raise another US$1.04 billion.

Some 460.5 million new common shares will be released on top of the 355.7 million already in circulation so - despite the new investment - the Adelson family's stake in the company will fall to just over 51 per cent, down from 69 per cent earlier this year. Once the plan goes through and the capital is raised, their stake will be about US$2.2 billion.

The company's current situation is a remarkable setback for Mr Adelson, once considered the third richest man in America by Forbes magazine with an estimated worth of US$28 billion as recently as September 2007, much of which was tied up in shares.

Since hitting US$145.57 on Oct 2, 2007, Las Vegas Sands shares have lost 96 per cent of their value.

The action follows Sands' announcement last week that it is in danger of breaching lending conditions and defaulting on US$5.2 billion in credit facilities secured by its Las Vegas operations.

Sands reported weaker-than-expected results Monday for the third quarter and said it suspended several projects, including its US$600 million St. Regis condominium tower in Las Vegas and two sites on the Cotai Strip in Macau.

The Macau sites cost US$1.16 billion so far and would cost another US$430 million through June to suspend.

On Tuesday, Macau's leader, Chief Executive Edmund Ho, said the government of Chinese gambling enclave was aware of Las Vegas Sands' funding difficulties, but was not in a position to intervene.

'Because of its over-leveraged borrowing in the US and around the world, it's normal and expected that it has to suspend some of its projects,' he said.

'Until now, the Macau government has no concrete measures to help it solve its financing difficulties immediately,' he said. -- AP

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