Bally's Agrees To Be Acquired By Standard General For 4.6 Bln; Stock Surges In Pre-market

(RTTNews) - Bally's Corporation (BALY), a casino-entertainment company, Thursday said it has signed an agreement with its largest shareholder Standard General L.P. to acquire the company for about $4.6 billion in enterprise value. Bally's shares were more than 22 percent up in pre-market to $16.59.

"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," said Robeson Reeves, Bally's Chief Executive Officer.

The purchase price of $18.25 per share represents a 71 percent premium over the company's 30-day volume weighted average share price as of March 8, 2024, the last trading day before the disclosure of Standard General's initial cash acquisition proposal of $15 per share.

Upon closing the transaction, Bally's will combine with The Queen Casino & Entertainment Inc., a regional casino operator majority-owned by funds managed by Standard General.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

Bally's stock had closed at $13.52, down 3,7 percent on Wednesday. It has traded in the range of $7.28 - $16.96 in the last 1 year.