Financial Deal Ensures Completion Of Halted Vegas Casino “City Center”
Casino operator MGM Mirage says it has agreed with partner Dubai World and the pair’s lenders to finish a US$8.5 billion casino complex on the Las Vegas Strip.
MGM Mirage said Dubai World, the investment arm of the Dubai government, would drop a lawsuit it filed against the Las Vegas-based casino company, which is majority owned by investor Kirk Kerkorian.
The pact secures MGM Mirage’s payment obligations for construction costs with its Circus Circus Las Vegas casino and adjacent land.
MGM Mirage and Dubai World each agreed to fund their remaining payments for CityCenter with letters of credit, and the lenders agreed to immediately fund US$1.8 billion to finish the project, rather than wait until each partner had fully paid its share.
The company said City-Center is now on track to be open by Dec. 9, with the Harmon Hotel & Spa opening in 2010.
“This was the best possible outcome. It’s so vastly superior to any other option that we had to explore as to make us almost giddy with relief and excitement,” MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren said.
Murren said the agreement puts the casino company in the best possible position as it works to restructure its balance sheet, which included more than $13 billion in debt as of the end of last year.
MGM Mirage said hat it had reached a separate agreement with its own lenders to waive payment obligations until June 30, extending a prior agreement by one and a half months.
Murren said the 45-day extension gave the company “more than enough time” to come up with a comprehensive plan to fix its balance sheet.
Murren said the company is well on its way toward solving its debt problems, but he declined to be more specific about the direction MGM Mirage was taking.
All the deals are subject to approval by gambling regulators, MGM Mirage said.
Visit the website for CIty-Center here: http://www.citycenter.com/
Source: Associated Press
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