BREAKING: Bally’s Sold to Hedge Fund UPDATED

BREAKING: Bally’s Sold to Hedge Fund UPDATED

The Wall Street Journal reports that hedge fund Standard General agreed to buy the remaining shares in casino chain Bally’s in a deal that valued the casino at about $4.6 billion.

There are deep ties between Standard General.

Bally's Board Chair Soo Kim, also leads the hedge fund taking over the company.

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In Rhode Island, Bally's owns and operates both casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton and its corporate headquarters is located here.

The hedge fund already owns a significant stake in the storied casino and sports-betting operation, agreed to buy Bally’s for $18.25 a share, a 35% premium to Wednesday’s closing price.

In March, Standard General had offered $15 a share to buy the portion of Bally’s it didn’t already own.

Standard General will merge Bally’s with a regional casino chain it already owns, The Queen Casino & Entertainment.

Bally’s owns 15 casinos in 10 states, a racetrack in Colorado, a golf course in New York, and significant online betting operations.

Jaymin Patel, Chairman of the Special Committee, said, “After a detailed consideration by the Special Committee, with the assistance of our outside financial and legal advisors, it was determined that the Cash Consideration from Standard General delivers a meaningful and immediate value to stockholders. We look forward to working with the team at Standard General and QC&E as we move through the process to complete the merger.”

Robeson Reeves, Bally’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our team is well positioned to continue to execute on our initiatives to drive growth across all our segments including in our International Interactive business, North America Interactive and our Casinos & Resorts (“C&R”) segments, while proceeding with our development pipeline, including construction of our permanent casino resort in Chicago, for which we recently announced a comprehensive financing plan. The addition of four complementary properties through this merger to our existing 15 domestic casino properties will add further geographic and market diversity to our portfolio. With QC&E’s development pipeline recently completed or already well underway, we see a path toward additional revenue and EBITDAR growth and value accretion as those projects are completed in 2025. We look forward to bringing our ultimate vision to bear and to working closely with the Standard General team to execute on that vision.”

The deal is likely to close in early 2025.