Casino News

Billionaire casino buy-out confirmed

2010-02-19 14:03:25

It has been confirmed that billionaire Carl Icahn purchased the under-construction Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino resort yesterday (February 18th).

Three organisations in the Fontainebleau group filed for bankruptcy in June last year, citing debts of more than $1 billion each, Bloomberg reports.

The initiative had been about 70 per cent finished when the plug was pulled, with the cost of building growing to some $2 billion at the time of stalling.

Former bidder on the project Penn National Gaming estimated that it will cost approximately $1.5 billion to complete.

A judge at the Miami bankruptcy court approved the sale of the establishment for $156.1 million.

Commenting on the deal, attorney for Fontainebleau Scott Baen said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg: "We're recording the documents and transferring the money as we speak."

Carl Icahn currently shares the 43th richest man in the world title on Forbes' rankings and is worth some $9 billion.