Macau concessionaire Sands China Ltd has entered into an amended and restated facility agreement under which its lenders have agreed to extend the termination date to which the company can access the facility for two years until 31 July 2025.
However, the new agreement also extends by 18 months the period within which Sands China is restricted from paying out dividends should it fail to meet certain criteria imposed by its lenders. This restricted period will now run until 1 January 2025.
The amended facility agreement relates to an initial US$2 billion facility agreement entered into by Sands China in 2018, which was later expanded to allow the company access to an additional US$494 million if required. The 2018 agreement contained, among other things, two financial covenants requiring the company to maintain a Consolidated Leverage Ratio and a Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio of a certain level.
In a Friday filing, the company said it has now entered into an amended and restated facility agreement with its lenders which not only ensures the facility is available until mid-2025 but also amends each of those financial covenants.
In particular, it amends the maximum permitted Consolidated Leverage Ratio on the last day of each financial quarter to 6.25x as at 31 March 2024, to 5.5x as at 30 June 2024, to 5.0x as at 30 September 2024, to 4.5 x as at 31 December 2024 and to 4.0x as at 31 March 2025.
Sands China will be restricted from paying dividends until 1 January 2025 should its borrowings exceed US$2 billion or if its Consolidated Leverage Ratio exceeds the above maximums. The restriction would be waived if Sands China had cash and cash equivalents of greater than US$2 billion and if it had more than US$2 billion in unused commitments under the facility agreement.
Sands China added that the new agreement amends the definition of “consolidated total debt” to exclude any financial indebtedness that is subordinated, including a separate US$1 billion loan facility provided by its parent, Las Vegas Sands Corp, in 2022.
The amendments, Sands China said, take effect from 31 July 2023 with the company having paid its lenders a “customary fee” for reaching a new agreement.
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