… and tried to imply the other day, we have two conflicting agendas in the ixnayed Casino Aztar sale. One is that of the creditors, who think the boat can fetch a higher price than the $220 million for which Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III had to settle. (You will recall that prospective buyers were distinctly thin on the ground at the time.)
They're walking a tightrope, as they don't want to alienate putative buyer Eldorado Resorts and, should Eldorado walk (having already been told its money's not good enough) they don't want to be stampeded into a fire sale before Sept. 28. That's when disposition of the vessel passes into the hands of the State of Indiana.
The other endgame, as I tried to hint earlier, is that of Tropicana Entertainment CEO Scott Butera. He, creditors fear, may be trying to hang onto Casino Aztar by putting it back on the market and then saying — as was already bruited in the Wall Street Journal — that no offer is good enough, so TropEnt is keeping it. Which means creditors, instead of getting hundreds of millions of dollars now, would be asked to settle for a dribble of cash over the long haul. Butera seems able to charm the birds off the trees, but that might be a tough sell, even for him.
(The Evansville Courier Press story comes with a helpful timeline. Note the succession of three general managers in 14 months — a period in which Casino Aztar's revenues sank lower and lower and lower, only beginning to rise again in May.)
Then again, the would-be casino titan whose company managed to lose $1 billion-plus in a year still has his fans. Raves Courier Press reader lmajors_koch, "[Bill] Yung is the smartest man alive!!!! He's going to end up keeping Casino Aztar before this is all over with. You guys just watch."
Yeah, we will.
