Caesars Entertainment, saddled with more than billion in debt, announced last month it will package parts of three of its assets, Caesars Interactive, Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore, in a company called Caesars Growth Venture Partners. The unit of the company will assume .1 billion in debt. In addition, Caesars proposed selling .5 billion in senior notes, due in 2020, at a 9 percent rate. Proceeds will be used to repay outstanding term loans, the company said.
For Caesars Growth Venture Partners, the company, which is largely owned by Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital, said it would keep a “significant portion” of the venture. The Baltimore project is a joint venture with Rock Gaming, the Detroit-based company that is a partner in two Ohio Horseshoe casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Caesars also is building the $550 million Linq project on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip between Harrah’s and the Flamingo, which will include a 500-foot-tall observation wheel, similar to wheels in London and Singapore, as well as an entertainment mall with restaurants and shops.
Also in February, Caesars opened a Nobu hotel expansion at Caesars Palace, and closed Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon (formerly the Barbary Coast) on the Strip. The property will undergo a $185 million renovation and conversion of the 198-room hotel-casino into a boutique-style property. Victor Drai started the nightclub craze by opening his seminal nightspot at the former Barbary Coast in the early 1990s.
