Tilman Fertitta's Caesars Acquisition Appears to Move Forward After Go-Shop Period

With the go-shop period concluding this past Saturday and no additional offers coming to the table, Tilman Fertitta's $17.6 billion bid to acquire Caesars Entertainment will move forward. 

The deal originally came in May when Fertitta agreed to buy it for $31 per share. Until this past Saturday, Caesars Entertainment was able to seek out other proposals, but none have surfaced, at least publicly. 

The only other offer that was potentially on the table was from billionaire investor Carl Icahn. A Bloomberg report said Jefferies Financial Group Inc. was gauging interest from potential investors in raising about $5 billion in debt to support Icahn's bid. The bid would've been about $33 per share. 

Icahn has a history with Caesars: he helped Eldorado Resorts acquire Caesars in 2020 and has two representatives on Caesars' board. At the time of this writing, there are no reports of Icahn submitting such a bid. 

Deal Moves Into Regulatory Review

With this transaction in place, Fertitta General Counsel, CFO Richard Liem, and EVP Steven Scheinthal appeared before the Nevada Gaming Control Board to discuss the deal. Scheinthal said that the companies expect to file their Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust notification on July 13, which will come before seeking approval from gaming regulators. 

Following an antitrust review, both companies will need to receive approval from gaming regulators in each jurisdiction where Caesars operates. Additionally, the SEC will need to review the deal. 

Approval Process Could Take Up to 10 Months

“We anticipate that we’ll have to go through the same process in each of the other jurisdictions that we went through in Nevada,” Scheinthal said. “We think the approvals will probably take nine to 10 months from today," he added. 

Should this deal go through, shareholders would receive $31 per share, and Fertitta would assume about $11.9 billion of Caesars' debt.