You have to wonder after reading this story, which suggests that — out of a field of two-dozen potential suitors for the Atlantic City Tropicana — virtually everyone is heading for the tall grass. Or maybe it's an en masse fake-out and some "surprise" bids will sneak across the transom at 4:59 p.m. EST.
To get a recurring annoyance out of the way, I don't know why reporters keep dragging Harrah's Entertainment into this. With four casinos on the Boardwalk already, Harrah's would undoubtedly stir antitrust concerns if it made a play for the biggest hotel in the market. As for MGM Mirage, does anyone seriously think it's got the the time or the interest in bothering with the Trop when it's got a $5 billion dollar Atlantic City project of its own on the drawing boards?
Mohegan Sun has taken a powder and it looks as though Pinnacle Entertainment (whose Boardwalk megaresort project is currently in abeyance) is doing the same. Colony Capital's Owen Blicksilver is doing his usual "no comment" thing, and most everyone else (Cordish Cos., Ameristar, the Bashaw/Barr duo) is following suit. What's more, The Press of Atlantic City suggests that the Trop's asking price may be in freefall.
True, there's a $950 billion offer on the table from what is aptly described as "a mysterious New York investment group." I'd be be surprised if this particular bid doesn't evaporate upon closer inspection by Bear Sterns, hired to perform due diligence for the State of New Jersey. Plus, the Trop may just be too dilapidated and too damn old to take on right now.
Then again, Columbia Sussex CEO William Yung III might get the courts to enjoin the sale altogether, pending the outcome of his lawsuit against the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. I'm sure the NJCCC's potential can't-sell-the-Trop predicament will cause him no pain, personally. (His bondholders, though, may take a different view, seeing as they're counting on that Trop-sale cash he promised them.)
