Business
Century Casinos, Inc. Enters into a Definitive Agreement to Acquire the Operations of Three Casinos from Eldorado Resorts
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Casinos, Inc. (Nasdaq Capital Market®: CNTY) ("Century Casinos" or "the Company"), announced
About this update from Century Casinos, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":" COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Casinos, Inc. (Nasdaq Capital Market®: CNTY) (\"Century Casinos\" or \"the Company\"), announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the operations of Isle Casino Cape Girardeau (\"Cape Girardeau\"), Lady Luck Caruthersville (\"Caruthersville\") and Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort (\"Mountaineer\") from Eldorado Resorts, Inc. (Nasdaq Capital Market®: ERI) (\"Eldorado Resorts\") for approximately $107.0 million.\n\n \nSimultaneous with the closing of the transaction, VICI Properties Inc. (NYSE: VICI) (\"VICI\") will acquire the real estate assets of the three properties for approximately $278.0 million and the Company will enter into a triple net lease agreement with VICI for the three casino properties. The lease will have an initial annual rent of approximately $25.0 million and an initial term of 15 years, with four five-year renewal options. The pro-forma rent coverage ratio at the acquired portfolio level is 2.1x.\nThe purchase price represents an implied trailing twelve month pro-forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (\"EBITDA\") multiple of 4.1x for the three casinos. The multiple excludes any potential cost synergies and operational improvements. The acquisition is expected to meaningfully enhance the Company's free cash flow as well as be immediately accretive to earnings.\nThe Company will finance the $107.0 million purchase with a new credit facility that is anticipated to be issued by Macquarie Capital. On a pro-forma basis, the Company estimates this will result in total leverage of 3.5x and net leverage of 2.2x. The Company expects to quickly delever given the growth across its existing portfolio, newly acquired properties and the ramp up of Century Mile Racetrack and Casino.\n\"This transaction further highlights our commitment to enhancing shareholder value,\" Erwin Haitzmann, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Century Casinos remarked. \"Cape Girardeau, Caruthersville and Mountaineer expand the strategic diversity of Century Casinos with attractive assets in strong, stable markets. The expected increase to our free cash flow will allow us to remain well positioned to reduce leverage and evaluate additional strategic growth opportunities,\" Haitzmann concluded.\n\"The acquisition of the o...