The company that's selling an Indiana casino to Reno's Eldorado Resorts LLC is talking as it if it wants to shop the property around to get a higher bid.
But executives of the Eldorado say they're not concerned about the steps taken by the new managers of Tropicana Entertainment LLC.
They say the plans for an auction of the Evansville, Ind., casino have been on the books for a while, and they're certain that their deal still is on track.
In March, Eldorado Resorts owner of the Eldorado Hotel & Casino and half-owner of the Silver Legacy struck a deal to buy Casino Aztar, a riverboat casino at Evansville, Ind., from Tropicana Entertainment.
The price: $190 million in cash, a $30 million note and an additional payment of $25 million if the Indiana property meets financial benchmarks after the acquisition.
In early May, however, troubled Tropicana filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware.
The story's latest turn came about 10 days ago, when Tropicana
Entertainment said it asked the bankruptcy court for permission to auction the Indiana casino.
Tropicana executives said they want to see if they can get a higher offer than the $220 million bid from Eldorado, and they might want to stop the sale process entirely and keep the casino.
"We are committed to obtaining maximum value for our assets and to doing what is right for all of our constituents," said Scott Butera, the chief executive officer of Tropicana.
Butera described the auction as a normal part of the bankruptcy process, and said the agreement to sell the casino to Eldorado required an auction process in case Tropicana filed for bankruptcy protection.
The company formed a new board and named Butera as CEO in June. Butera said the new board needs time to think through its options for the Evansville casino.
And he said the company believes the casino is operating better today than it was in March, when the original deal was struck with Eldorado Resorts.
Gary Carano, the president of Eldorado Resorts, said the company remains strongly interested in the Evansville casino, and it's not concerned that an auction would derail its plans.
If Tropicana decided to sell the property to a company other than Eldorado Resorts, it would be required to pay the Reno company a breakup fee of $6.6 million and reimburse as much as $500,000 in costs incurred by Eldorado Resorts.
When the property initially came on the market last spring, Eldorado Resorts beat out eight other bidders for the Evansville casino.
Tropicana said it hopes to conduct the auction of the Evansville property the week of Nov. 10 and close the sale by the end of December.
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