Directors of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. (Las Vegas), the world’s largest casino company, have accepted a $17.1 billion buyout offer from two private equity firms, Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group.
Once approved and completed, it will be the largest going-private deal ever for a publicly held casino company and the seventh-biggest leveraged buyout deal of any kind.
The new owners said they plan to continue with Harrah’s management team and with large-scale redevelopment plans for properties in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J.
Harrah’s is the world’s largest casino company by revenue, operating 39 casinos nationwide, including Caesars Palace, Bally’s and Paris in Las Vegas and Caesars and Harrah’s in Atlantic City. It also has interests in Casino Windsor in Canada, to be renamed Caesars Windsor in early 2008, and Conrad Punta del Este in Uruguay.
By year’s end, Harrah’s is to acquire all the shares in U.K.-based London Clubs International PLC, which operates seven casinos in the U.K., two in Egypt, one in South Africa and is a consultant for a casino in Lebanon.
Harrah’s is also pursuing projects in Singapore, the Bahamas, Spain and Slovenia.