Las Vegas Sands Corp., owner of the Venetian casino in Las Vegas, plans to borrow more than $2 billion to build a new resort in Macau, said bankers involved in the transaction.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are arranging the syndicated loan, the largest in Macau, said the bankers, who asked not to be named citing a confidentiality agreement.

Las Vegas Sands said in August it may spend $2.75 billion to build a Venetian casino and develop three hotels in a 200-acre area known as the Cotai Strip in Macau, which may overtake Las Vegas this year as the world's largest gambling center by revenue. The company posted a 50 percent increase in second-quarter revenue as it benefited from entering the market in Macau, where it became the first Western company to open a casino last year.

``Sands Macau is taking more market share more quickly than people expected in the VIP part of the market,'' said Peter Drolet, an equity analyst at UOB Kay Hian Ltd. in Hong Kong. ``By opening such a big casino resort, Sands is laying the ground work for the future.''

Macau's so-called VIP market, the handful of mainly Chinese gamblers who bet an average $1 million a visit, accounted for 70 percent of Macau's gaming market last year, according to the government.

The company plans to borrow for as long as seven years, the bankers said. The three arrangers may invite lenders in the U.S. and Asia by the end of this month to join the loan, the bankers said. Pricing of the loan wasn't disclosed.

Bank of Nova Scotia and Banco Nacional Ultramarino SA, a unit of Caixa Geral de Depositos SA, Portugal's biggest bank, joined the loan, the bankers said.

Wynn Resorts Ltd., the casino company headed by Stephen Wynn, got $764 million of loans in September for its $1.1 billion project in Macau, its first overseas casino.

Wynn Resorts is paying 3 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, at the beginning for a $729 million part of the loan, arrangers of the loan said Sept. 14. The margin will fall to 2.75 percentage points in the third quarter of 2006.

The rate may fall to as low as 2 percentage points more than six-month Libor after the second phase of the project is completed in the third quarter of 2007, if the project's debt is less than 1.5 times its EBITDA, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, according to Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Societe Generale, which arranged the loan.

Las Vegas Sands' long-term debt is rated BB-, three levels below investment grade, by Standard & Poor's, with a stable outlook. Moody's Investors Services assigns a B2 rating, five rungs below investment grade. S&P gives Wynn Resorts' long-term debt a B+ rating, four steps below investment grade.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1999, ended the 42-year monopoly of casino owner Stanley Ho in 2001. MGM Mirage and Wynn Resorts are also building casinos in the market, where gambling revenue rose 44 percent to $5.1 billion last year, according to the government.

The Las Vegas Strip produced $5.33 billion in revenue in 2004 and Atlantic City $4.81 billion, according to the American Gaming Association. The Las Vegas Strip generated $1.48 billion of gaming revenue in the second quarter of this year, according the Nevada Gaming Control Board. That compares with $1.45 billion for Macau in the same period, according to Macau's government.

The number of visitors to Macau climbed 13 percent to 13.8 million for the first three quarters of this year, according to Macau government statistics.

Las Vegas Sands is also bidding to open a resort in Singapore, which this year said it's scrapping its four-decade ban on casinos to boost tourism...