The Cordish Co. President David Cordish on Monday remained quiet on rumors he will purchase Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. and its three Atlantic City casinos.
The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger on Friday cited three anonymous sources claiming The Cordish Co. was interested in purchasing one or more of Trump?s Atlantic City casinos. A source close to the deal told The Wall Street Journal that Cordish would buy Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. entirely.
The Cordish Co. developed Power Plant Live and last month proposed a $600 million casino development in Kansas.
Any buyer of the Trump properties would assume nearly $1.5 billion in debt responsibility, Morningstar analyst Sumit Desai said.
“All casinos carry a lot of debt, but Trump?s debt load is to the point where profits are getting eaten up by interest payments,” Desai said.
Desai said the debt load might have been a key obstacle in the failed buyout attempt led by former casino executive Dennis Gomes earlier this summer.
A purchase of the Trump holdings would be a clear signal of Cordish?s rising national development power, said Anirban Basu, president and CEO of the Sage Policy Group.
“This should be a wake-up call for everyone in Baltimore who should recognize how large the Cordish companies have become,” Basu said. “This is one of the very rare developers that can put together deals of this size.”
Repeated calls and e-mails to David Cordish by The Examiner were not returned.
Trump Entertainment Resorts shares dropped slightly in Nasdaq trading Monday, falling 16cents per share to $8.10 after an 18 percent gain Friday on unconfirmed reports of the Cordish buyout.
