For the second time in eight years, casino giant Caesars Entertainment is being acquired in a multibillion-dollar transaction — one that will take the largest casino company in the U.S. private and is expected to shuffle the structure of the gaming industry, as several of the company’s properties may have to be sold to avoid antitrust issues.
Houston-based Fertitta Entertainment, the privately held conglomerate controlled by billionaire Tilman Fertitta, is acquiring Caesars, which has corporate headquarters in Las Vegas and Reno, in an all-cash transaction valued at $17.6 billion. The agreement includes Fertitta’s assumption of nearly $12 billion of Caesars’ outstanding debt, which had weighed down the value of the company that was less than a decade out of bankruptcy proceedings.
