That is because Station still manages and markets the property, although it is now owned by three private equity funds: Standard General, Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group. The last two are also majority owners of Caesars Entertainment, making them arguably the most dominant force in the Las Vegas casino industry. The three firms have also put their own, Aliante-specific oversight group in place. As of last October, it included Texas Pacific co-founder John Coulter and former Boyd Gaming CFO Ellis Landau.
The agreement was essentially a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure transaction. Station shed $400 million in debt in return for one poorly performing casino. Now that it has been spun off and is operating under a smaller debt load, Aliante Station is turning a profit for its new owners. During the run-up to the change of ownership, Station had also been using Aliante as a trial balloon for ideas like a smoke-free bingo room. (We never heard how that went over with players.)
While it is conceivable that, somewhere down the road, Station could attempt to buy back the $662 million casino – which opened just as the Vegas economy began heading south – it’s doubtful. At the same time that talks with Apollo & Co. were reaching a head, Station paid a half-billion dollars to repurchase Green Valley Ranch from creditors. In other words, they were willing to bet a second fortune on the Ranch, which enjoys an excellent location. But Aliante, in a sparsely populated stretch of North Las Vegas, was expendable.
