PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corp. on Thursday agreed to accept a buyout offer from hedge fund Standard General L.P. in a deal that values the casino operator at $4.6 billion.
Standard General, a New York-based hedge fund operator that already owned a 23% stake in Bally’s, will acquire the remaining shares at $18.25 per share, a 35% premium to Wednesday’s closing price. The price represents a 71% premium over the company’s 30-day volume-weighted average price per share, as of March 8.
Soo Kim, managing partner of Standard General, is also chairman of the Bally's board of directors.
Standard General will merge Bally’s into its regional casino chain, The Queen Casino & Entertainment, when the deal closes which is expected in the first half of 2025.
“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 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,” Bally’s CEO Robeson Reeves said. “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.”
Bally’s, which owns 15 casinos in 10 states, operates two casinos in Rhode Island, Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort and Tiverton Casino & Hotel. It is also in the midst of planning a flagship casino in Chicago with a price tag of $1.7 billion.
With the merger, Standard General will expand to 19 gambling, entertainment and hospitality facilities across 11 states.
“The transaction provides Bally’s stockholders with a significant cash premium along with certainty of value for their investment or, if they elect to retain their shares, the opportunity to participate in the longer-term growth prospects of our expanded portfolio and significant development pipeline,” said Soo Kim, managing partner of Standard General. “The addition of the complementary QC&E assets builds upon the Company’s attractive growth profile. We look forward to working with the Board of Directors and the Company’s senior management team as they continue to execute on their business plan.”
Bally’s has a 20-year deal with the state to operate legal gambling in partnership with International Game Technology PLC.
R.I. Lottery Director Mark Furcolo said on Thursday the agency is in the process of reviewing the announcement from Bally's though he does not anticipate an impact on the company's deal with Rhode Island.
Bally’s spokesperson Patti Doyle said the merger would not impact operations in Rhode Island.
Nixon Peabody, led by Marc Crisafulli, is acting as legal counsel to Bally’s in the merger. Crisafulli retired as head of Bally’s Corp.’s Rhode Island operations in Sept. 2022. He also serves as chairman of the state's I-195 Redevelopment District Commission.
Crisafulli joined Bally’s in May 2019 as executive vice president of government relations. He then later served as executive vice president of Twin River Worldwide Holdings and president of both Twin River Lincoln and Twin River Tiverton casinos, prior to the company’s rebrand to Bally’s Corp. in 2020.
When Standard General made its first buyout offer in 2022, which was rejected eventually by Bally's, a Department of Revenue spokesperson said the state did not anticipate a buyout would have any material impact on Bally’s Rhode Island operations or its commitments to the state.
Bally's has been considering a buyout offer since March when it
formed a special committee to evaluate Standard General’s proposal.
On April 2, Fitch Ratings reduced Bally’s credit grade to “B” from “B+” and changed its outlook to “negative,” citing increased competition in online gaming and sports betting. That was preceded by downgrades from Moody’s Investors Services and S&P Global Ratings.
Standard General previously offered Bally’s $38 per share for its remaining shares in 2022, which would have valued the casino operator at about $2 billion.
In January 2023, Bally’s sold the properties and buildings of Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Hotel in Tiverton and Bally’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi in Biloxi, Miss., to Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. for $635 million.
Gaming & Leisure Properties will take over ownership of the land and buildings of both properties and Bally’s will lease back those sites while continuing to own, control and manage all the gaming operations of the facilities uninterrupted.
(ADDS paragraphs 12-13 with Marc Crisafulli serving as legal counsel; MINOR edits.)
