Tropicana Atlantic City purchase agreement finalized

Friday, April 24, 2009 | 4:59 p.m.

Tropicana asset purchase agreement

Investors offer $200 million for Tropicana Atlantic City (3-31-2009)
Tropicana creditors want Vegas property split from company (3-24-2009)
Tropicana could emerge from Chapter 11 in May (3-6-2009)
Tropicana hires branding firm to focus on value (2-3-2009)
Plan would give Tropicana creditors ownership stake (1-13-2009)
Tropicana names president of Vegas resort (1-6-2009)
Tropicana conservator enters negotiations on N.J. property (9-23-2008)

Tropicana Atlantic City is one step closer to being sold after a group of negotiators completed a purchase agreement that would allow former Sands Hotel Casino Atlantic City owner Carl Icahn and a group of investors to buy the property.

The 98-page purchase agreement, which is dated April 17, was released Thursday by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

Last month, former New Jersey Supreme Court Judge Gary Stein, the state trustee and conservator for the Tropicana Atlantic City, announced that an agreement was reached on the terms of purchase with Icahn and his investors that sets $200 million as the minimum bid for a bankruptcy auction of the casino.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission is expected to approve the purchase agreement Wednesday and authorize the Tropicana to go into bankruptcy court in New Jersey for an auction in the coming weeks.

New Jersey Casino Control Commission spokesman Dan Heneghan called the purchase agreement “a big milestone” for the Tropicana, which has been for sale since December 2007.

The Tropicana Atlantic City has been for sale since former owner William Yung was deemed unqualified to run a casino in New Jersey. The commission voted not to renew Tropicana’s casino license, which was formerly held by Adamar of New Jersey.

Tropicana Entertainment, which owns Tropicana Las Vegas and formerly owned Tropicana Atlantic City, filed for bankruptcy in May 2008 after it defaulted on nearly $2.7 billion in bonds. The company said without the New Jersey property, it couldn’t afford to pay its debt.

Under Tropicana Entertainment’s approved reorganization plan, the casino company could emerge from Chapter 11 later this month. The plans cancel all the equity interests of Yung.

The beachfront Tropicana Atlantic City has 2,100 rooms and more than 200,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space.

Discussion: 1 comment so far…

By teambeam

4/25/09 at 3:05 p.m.

Suggest removal

William Yung...UNQUALIFIED to run a casino=EPIC FAIL..lol
sad for the jobs he axed right off the bat thinking that was the way to do it tho...sigh

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