VICI Properties, the real estate investment trust that owns Caesars Palace and other Caesars Entertainment properties on the Las Vegas Strip, has completed an equity offering expected to raise $3.4 billion, which the company will use to acquire rival gaming REIT MGM Growth Properties and the Las Vegas Strip assets of Las Vegas Sands Corp., including the Venetian, Palazzo and Sands Expo Center.
Fitch Ratings reported that VICI completed the $3.4 billion equity offering, and settled its 26.9 million share forward-sale agreement from June 2020 for total cash proceeds of $527 million. Roughly $1.9 billion of proceeds remain to be settled from the previous March 2021 forward-sale agreement, Fitch said.
In August, MGM Growth Properties and MGM Resorts International, MGP’s controlling shareholder, announced that they have entered into an agreement in which VICI Properties will acquire MGP for $17.2 billion, inclusive of $5.7 billion of debt. Upon completion of the merger, VICI will have an estimated enterprise value of $45 billion.
