Caesars Entertainment (CZR) spiked in late trading on Thursday after FT reported that the casino company is weighing takeover offers, including a bid from Tilman Fertitta.
Tilman Fertitta entered casinos in 2005 by buying the Golden Nugget Las Vegas and Laughlin properties through Landry’s, marking his move from restaurants into gaming. He later expanded the Golden Nugget brand to Atlantic City, Biloxi, and Lake Charles, including purchasing the former Trump Marina in 2011. Today, his Fertitta Entertainment controls multiple Golden Nugget casinos and related online gaming operations.
Sources indicate Caesars (CZR) is also considering a management-led buyout in addition to other takeover offers. The company controls more than 50 casinos across North America, including the Caesars Palace, Harrah’s, and El Dorado brands. Caesars also runs a betting app, which showed improved results in Q4. After considering Caesars’ (CZR) debt load, its enterprise value of $16B would make any deal one of the biggest in the industry in years.
Shares of Caesars (CZR) were up 20.6% at 3:55 p.m. MGM Resorts (MGM) shot up 6.3%, and Wynn Resorts (WYNN) was up 2.5%