Penn National Gaming Inc. agreed to buy the Tropicana Las Vegas
Casino Hotel Resort for $360 million, giving the regional casino
operator a long-sought presence on the Las Vegas Strip.
"The planned acquisition of Tropicana Las Vegas establishes a
strong presence on the Las Vegas Strip for Penn National Gaming,
fulfilling an important long-term strategic objective for the
company," Chief Executive Timothy Wilmott said in a news
release.
He added that Penn has spent the past several years reviewing an
acquisition of gaming assets in Las Vegas.
The property, on the southern end of the Strip, features nearly
1,500 guest rooms, a 50,000-square foot casino, three full-service
restaurants, a 1,200-seat performance theater and more than 100,000
square feet of meeting space.
Over the past four years, the Tropicana completed $200 million
of property upgrades including a renovation of all guest rooms.
The acquisition from private-equity firm Onex Corp. and a group
of shareholders will be financed through an expansion of Penn's
existing credit facilities and cash on hand.
Onex" portion of the proceeds would be about $50 million.
The Tropicana property was previously part of Tropicana
Entertainment LLC, but was split off during that company's 2008
bankruptcy.
Penn, meanwhile, owns more than 25 gaming properties with a
focus on slot machine entertainment. Last week the company posted
stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, saying it benefited
from improvements in regional gaming trends, particularly in the
first half of the quarter.
Write to Lauren Pollock at lauren.pollock@wsj.com
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