isn't it Harrah's what got blown up bout twenty years ago???
Posted on 12/18/2006 3:24:23 PM PST by mcg2000
LAS VEGAS - Harrah's Entertainment Inc., the world's largest casino company, has agreed to a $90 per share buyout offer from two private equity groups, said a person with knowledge of the negotiations.
The agreement with Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group came late last week but lawyers for both sides have been working out the details, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
An official announcement on the deal could come as early as Tuesday, the person said Monday.
A Harrah's spokesman declined to comment.
The company owns the Grand Casino Biloxi.
The deal values Harrah's at $16.7 billion and represents a 36 percent premium over Harrah's share price on Sept. 29, the last trading day before Apollo first proposed a buyout Oct. 2. Apollo and Texas Pacific also will assume $10.7 billion in debt.
Deliberations by a special committee of Harrah's board began after a deadline of Tuesday last week for offers. Penn National Gaming Inc., a Wyomissing, Pa.-based race track and casino operator, was eliminated from the bidding with its reported bid for $87 per share bid, mostly in cash.
The decision ends more than two months of silence following the original offer by Apollo and Texas Pacific for $81 a share.
Shares of Harrah's rose $2.53, or 3.2 percent, to $82.08 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Private money has gone on a months-long shopping spree for casino operators, which are valued for their cash-generating ability and significant real estate holdings.
The Harrah's deal is the biggest to take a public casino company private and ranks as the seventh largest leveraged buyout in history, according to Thomson Financial. The largest ever was RJR Nabisco Inc.'s $25 billion acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in 1998.
Analysts have said the search for casino companies would continue.
Harrah's is the world's largest casino company by revenue, operating 39 casinos nationwide, including Caesars Palace, Bally's and Paris on the Las Vegas Strip, and Caesars and Harrah's in Atlantic City, N.J. It also has interests in Casino Windsor in Canada, to be renamed Caesars Windsor in early 2008, and Conrad Punta del Este in Uruguay.
By year's end, Harrah's is to acquire all the shares in U.K.-based London Clubs International PLC, which operates seven casinos in the U.K., two in Egypt, one in South Africa and is a consultant for a casino in Lebanon.
Harrah's also is pursuing projects in the Bahamas, Spain and Slovenia.
The China play is a big winner and the reason this happened. Expect more of the same.
isn't it Harrah's what got blown up bout twenty years ago???
I think you're talking about Harvey's. Lake Tahoe?
thank you... were bought by Harrah's though?
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