Report: Online
casino operator makes unsolicited $400M bid for 31% stake in bankrupt
casino company.
September 29, 2004: 7:59 AM EDT
NEW YORK
(CNN/Money) - An offshore online casino operator says he's making a bid
to acquire a 31 percent stake in Donald Trump's casino companies, according
to a published report Wednesday.
The New York
Post said that Casino Fortune, a Trinidad-based online casino, has made
an unsolicited $400 million investment offer for Trump's three ailing
Atlantic City casinos. And John Wallis, the CEO of Sunny Group, told the
paper that his company can show Trump how to run the casinos profitably.
Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (DJTC: Research, Estimates) has posted
a net loss since it went public in 1996, according to the paper.
"We
feel we can help Trump turn around his [money-losing] casinos and want
to be involved in the management," Wallis told the paper.
But Wallis
admitted that he has yet to hear a response to his offer. And the paper
said the company has made some other high-profile offers in the past that
went nowhere, including an offer to buy the Phoenix Suns basketball team
and an offer to NASA to buy a seat on the space shuttle. Neither offer
resulted in serious negotiations, according to the paper.
Trump, who
is also the star of the hit reality television show "The Apprentice," filed for bankruptcy protection for his casino company in August. A report
Monday in the Wall Street Journal said he is trying to negotiate a deal
with bondholders that would grant them a two-thirds stake in Trump Hotels
and Casino Resorts Inc.
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