With Chicago casino on the horizon, Bally’s accepts $4.6 billion buyout, merger

Thursday, July 25, 2024 2:19 PM
  • Mitchell Armentrout, Chicago Sun-Times

The corporation behind Chicago’s casino has accepted a buyout offer from its largest shareholder under a $4.6 billion merger agreement that will keep the company publicly traded.

Bally’s announced Thursday it accepted the $18.25-per-share buyout from Standard General, the New York hedge fund led by Bally’s chairman Soo Kim.

That’s a premium over the $15-per-share offered up in March by Kim, whose fund currently owns about a quarter of Bally’s stock.

Kim previously tried and failed to take the company private at $38 per share in 2022, shortly before former Mayor Lori Lightfoot named Bally’s her chosen operator for the coveted Chicago casino license.