Sands China Falls 10% in Hong Kong Debut

Updated from 3:14 a.m. EST

HONG KONG (TheStreet) -- Sands China, the Macau unit of Las Vegas Sands(LVS Quote), tumbled in its first day of trading in Hong Kong.

The stock closed down 10% at HK$9.32 after trading as low as HK$8.78 and after being priced last week at $HK$10.38 ($1.34).

Sands China sold 1.87 billion shares in its initial public offering last week for a total of about $2.5 billion. The IPO was priced at the low end of the indicative price range of HK$10.38 to HK$13.88.

Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson dismissed worries about the stock's initial performance.

"We're not in business for 10 minutes, we're in business for decades," he told reporters at Hong Kong's stock exchange shortly after the stock tanked.

The stock sale is intended to help the gaming company restart construction on a 13.3 million square foot resort in Macau, the world's biggest gaming hub. The company last week received project financing commitments of $1.75 billion to resume construction of three Macau hotels.

Analysts said Monday's tepid debut was partly the result of the high price Sands was valuing its Macau operation.

Concerns about growth and saturation in the city's casino market, as well as waning interest in new offerings after a string of recent IPOs, including one from Sands rival Wynn Resorts (WUNN Quote), which debuted its Macau assets in October, also weighed.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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