Station Casinos - History

History

The company started out as a locals casino operator in 1976 opening the Bingo Palace. This establishment was later renamed Palace Station. The company went public with an IPO in 1993.

On December 4, 2006, Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta, and Colony Capital LLC, operating as Fertitta Colony Partners, made a highly leveraged offer to purchase all existing shares at $82 per share and take the company private. The Fertitta brothers, their sister Delise Sartini, and Blake Sartini, her husband, with a combined investment of $870.1 million, purchased a 25% stake in Fertitta Colony Partners. Colony Capital contributed $2.6 billion for a 75% share. As of November 7, 2007, the company's stock (old symbol STN) was no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In March 2008, both Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta were listed as billionaires in Forbe's annual list of the world's billionaires, but the purchase loaded the company with billions in debt. As of May 2011, Frank was ranked 1057th on the list of world's billionaires, Lorenzo was ranked at 1140th. Both were tied for these rankings with several others.

On July 28, 2009 Station Casinos filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Station Casinos’ filing listed $5.7 billion in assets against $6.5 billion in debt. The filing said the company has 510 holders of unsecured and subordinate debt totaling $4.4 billion. On August 21, 2009, Frank Fertitta Jr., the founder of Station Casinos and father of the Fertitta brothers, died from complications of a heart condition.

Station Casinos finally exited bankruptcy in June 2011 with $4 billion less in debt, and with creditors putting the company's 18 casinos back in the hands of the Fertitta family. The Fertitta brothers agreed to put nearly $200 million in the reassembled company, and now own 45 percent of its outstanding shares. The other new equity owners include the company's main secured lenders, Deutsche Bank AG, which now holds 25 percent, JPMorgan Chase with a 15 percent stake, and former unsecured bondholders hold an additional 15 percent, according to lawyers on the deal.

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