The Louisiana Gaming Control Board approved the merger between Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment Thursday, marking the first state to sign-off on the $17.3 billion transaction.
The deal requires approvals by regulatory agencies in 18 states and a sign-off by the Federal Trade Commission. Eldorado, whose management team will oversee the combined company, expects to close the transaction in first half of this year.
In Louisiana, Eldorado and Caesars currently operate a combined six properties in the state. On Monday, Eldorado announced an agreement to sell the Eldorado Shreveport to Las Vegas-based Maverick Gaming for $230 million.
The sale was all about announced late last year by Eldorado CEO Tom Reeg, who said the company would need to sell a northern Louisiana property to avoid any federal antitrust issues. The merger with will give the company ownership of Horseshoe Bossier City.
In December, Eldorado sold three casinos – two in Missouri and one in West Virginia – to Century Casinos and real estate investment trust VICI Properties for $385 million. The company is in the process of selling a Missouri casino and Mississippi casino to Twin River Worldwide Holdings for $230 million.
The deals are to alleviate any anti-trust issues.
In November, Shareholders from Eldorado and Caesars overwhelmingly voted in favor of the gaming companies’ merger. Under terms of the agreement, Eldorado will pay $8.40 per share in cash and 0.0899 shares of Eldorado stock for each Caesars share, or $12.75 per share. The combined business will be called Caesars and its shares will be traded on the Nasdaq.
Once the deal closes, the combined company, which will be renamed Caesars, will be governed by a new 11-person board of directors.
Eldorado is providing six of its current board members to the combined company: Chairman Gary Carano, Reeg – who will be CEO of the new company – David Tomick, Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., Michael Pegram and Bonnie Biumi.
Current Caesars directors Keith Cozza, Jan Jones Blackhurst, Don Kornstein, Courtney Mather and James Nelson will be part of the new board. Cozza, Mather and Nelson were appointed to the Caesars board in 2019 by corporate raider Carl Icahn, who controls more than 17 percent of the current Caesars.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
