Eldorado Resorts is selling three of its regional casinos for $385 million in cash in a move that is fueling speculation that a merger with Caesars Entertainment, or possibly another big acquisition by the company, could be imminent.
Reno-based Eldorado (Nasdaq: ERI), one of the most aggressive buyers of casinos the last few years and a reputed front-runner for some or all of Caesars’ prized Las Vegas assets, is selling two Missouri casinos, Isle Casino Cape Girardeau and Lady Luck Casino Caruthersville, and Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort in New Cumberland, West Va. to Century Casinos and VICI Properties.
Colorado-based Century will pay $107 million to operate the properties. VICI, the publicly traded real estate investment trust spun off in the Caesars bankruptcy reorganization, will pay $278 million for the real estate and buildings, which it will lease to Century.
For Century and VICI the deal spells a meaningful boost in revenues.
Isle Casino Cape Girardeau, located on the Mississippi River 120 miles south of St. Louis, features 41,500 square feet of casino space with 863 machine games and 20 table games. Lady Luck Caruthersville, 70 miles farther south on the Mississippi, has a 21,000-square-foot casino with 507 machines games and nine tables. Mountaineer draws from the greater Pittsburgh market with thoroughbred racing, 1,486 machine games, 36 table games, a poker room and a 357-room hotel.
Combined, the three could possibly double the earnings potential for publicly traded Century (Nasdaq: CNTY), which currently owns or operates 15 casinos in Colorado, in the Canadian province of Alberta, in England, in Argentina and on several cruise ships and holds a majority stake in the parent company of seven casinos in Poland.
VICI (NYSE: VICI) which owns 23 Caesars casinos and four golf courses in the United States, will collect $25 million a year in rent under a triple net master lease agreement with Century that will run for 15 years with four five-year renewal options.
What the deal means for Eldorado, the tidy injection of cash aside, is a matter of dispute.
The company has spent the last five years transforming itself from an owner of three northern Nevada casinos to a giant in the U.S. regional market with a portfolio that will number 23 casinos in 12 states when the transactions close, probably early next year.
And it could be on the hunt for more, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Politzer, who suggested that in addition to the cash the sales help clear away anti-trust concerns.
“It gives (Eldorado) a little more capacity for possible M&A,” he wrote in a client note that specifically mentioned Caesars, which has been in merger talks with Eldorado, and possibly others, since Carl Icahn amassed a controlling stake in the Las Vegas-based gaming giant earlier this year and began pushing for a sale.
Others see it as merely a house-cleaning measure, part of an industry trend of larger companies unloading non-core assets.
“It helps smaller companies get bigger and bigger companies get more efficient,” said Union Gaming analyst John DeCree.
Eldorado “has gotten a lot bigger,” he added, “and they had properties in their portfolio that just required too much time and effort.”
CEO Thomas Reeg’s statement on the sales would seem to support that view.
“The agreements are consistent with our continued focus on optimizing the results from our regional gaming platform, generating growth through strategic acquisitions and realizing value through sales,” he said. “Eldorado will continue to benefit from our geographically diverse portfolio of regional gaming assets that we believe have potential for further margin growth and increased cash flow.”
DeCree is skeptical of any tie-in with the Caesars negotiations, noting that $385 million “just really doesn’t move the needle all that much” when it comes to buying a company valued at around $4 billion.
Where those talks stand is also disputed.
The Wall Street Journal said earlier this month that Caesars and Eldorado were on the verge of announcing a merger for cash and stock with Eldorado in control of the combined entity.
The New York Post countered with a report that Caesars had rejected an Eldorado bid of $10.50 a share as too low but the two were still talking around a price that ultimately would land somewhere under $12.
“They are getting close but are still trying to get a price that is right for all shareholders,” a source told the Post last week.
The final word is likely to rest with Icahn, who has three seats on Caesars’ eight-member board of directors and has hand-picked the new CEO, Tony Rodio, who also will have a say. Rodio ran Tropicana Entertainment’s eight casinos for Icahn until last year, when Icahn sold the company to Eldorado.
