The great train robbery

Take that, Boyd Gaming, ya varmints!

To paraphrase vile Remington Products CEO Victor Kiam (1926-2001), the Fertitta Brothers liked Station Casinos so much they stole the company. Not only did three Fertitta siblings and an in-law cash out during the LBO to the tune of $495 million, they’ve been able to blow off literally billions of debt, gotten some of their scorched creditors to pony up even more cash, repurchased a gaggle of Station assets at a bargain price and continue to lead gullible Colony Capital CEO Tom Barrack around by the nose (assuming they can pry him away from the collected works of Stephenie Meyer).

Today’s Fertitta victory in bankruptcy court was a predestined conclusion, not least because Station had Judge Gregg Zive eating out of the palm of its hand from the start. Once Boyd Gaming was out of the running, that left a half-dozen rival bidders, all of whom reportedly wanted to cherry-pick from the 11 casinos, tribal management contracts and sundry real estate that were on the auction block. Considering that no “trophy assets” were up for grabs, one can’t blame the Unsuccessful Six for not wanting the dog’s breakfast that remained, mostly little grind joints.

It’s still conceivable that Penn National Gaming might relieve Station and its unhappy Greenspun partners of Green Valley Ranch and Aliante Station, but even that’s a long shot and Penn is a hard-to-please buyer. No, it looks like Station insiders — having played the system like a Stradivarius — are sitting pretty for the foreseeable future. As for the protestations by new principal owner Deutsche Bank that Station and sock-puppet bidder Fertitta Gaming were discrete entities, today’s disclosure that Marc Falcone is CFO of both speaks for itself.

The question has been raised whether the Fertittas planned it this way. Nonsense. That would require a degree of clairvoyance which is belied by their series of lead-with-your-chin business decisions (including sinking $662 million into small, remote Aliante Station). It may have occurred to somebody during the LBO that, should the economy go south, Station could shuck some debt here, write off some acquisitions there and take the Chapter 11 escape hatch. However, this is a company that tends to believe its own publicity, so what’s likeliest is that — once they landed in hot financial water — the Fertittas were canny enough to craft an exit strategy that left them with all the goodies, an escape plan so brilliant that creditors and rivals were forever at least one stumbling step behind.

The bad guys won. Time to turn the page and move on.