Z Capital Partners, a private equity firm that currently owns 39.5 percent of Las Vegas-based Affinity Gaming, is looking to go all in, with an offer to buy the rest of the company, at .75 per share. CEO James Zenni, who also serves on the Affinity board, feels a single owner makes the most sense for the company, which owns 11 casinos, including Silver Sevens, an off-Strip casino on the corner of Flamingo and Paradise.
Z Capital currently has over 8 million shares in the company, and plans on self-financing the transaction through the company’s funds and debt financing. The company offer assumes a $487 million value. Two years ago, Zenni attempted the same transaction, but failed. The stock offer is 9.7 times what the company’s 2014 cash flow was.
At the moment, Silver Point is the second-largest shareholder of the company, at 25.1 percent. Z Capital, in a filing with the SEC, said its letter was “intended to serve solely as an indication of interest and does not constitute a binding offer.” After a re-configuration, Herbst Gaming became Affinity Gaming, after a December 2010 bankruptcy.
