MGM Resorts International announced Chairman and CEO Jim Murren, President Bill Hornbuckle, General Counsel John McManus, and Chief Analytics Officer Elisa Gois are new board members of its MGM Growth Properties REIT.
The REIT will sell shares in 10 MGM properties, while MGM will maintain a 70 percent ownership of the REIT and continue to manage all properties.
Also named to the MGM Growth Properties board are Independent Directors Michael Rietbrock, formerly the leader of Nomura Securities; Thomas Roberts, formerly senior partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Dan Taylor, who is an executive for the MGM’s largest shareholder, the Tracinda Corporation.
MGM awaits regulatory approval of its REIT offering, which it hopes to initiate this spring.
Properties contained within the MGM Growth Properties REIT are Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Luxor, Excalibur, and The Park in Las Vegas; MGM Grand Detroit; and the Beau Rivage Biloxi and Gold Strike Tunica casinos in Mississippi.
While MGM has organized its REIT board, it also undertook cost-reduction measures by announcing its will outsource jobs at its arena and events centers operations in Las Vegas.
Four companies will take over management of various positions at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the T-Mobile Arena, which opens April 6.
MGM officials said the move enables greater flexibility in scheduling staffing demands at the three venues, and workers will be able to work at all three venues, rather than being confined to one.
That means more hours for workers, and lower costs for MGM, which recently announced it was outsourcing valet parking services and charging for self-parking at all Las Vegas Strip properties, except Circus Circus.
With new REIT investors anticipated, MGM is poising itself to provide additional value for them.
