[toc]The Press of Atlantic City reported that TEN AC has an offer of more than $200 million on the table for the shuttered resort and casino.
What we know about the TEN AC offer
So far: Not much. But the Press of AC reports that it exists:
A New York City-based private equity firm has tendered a $220 million offer to purchase the former Revel, according to Alex Fredericks, director of operations for Digital Launch, the company representing the firm.
The offer by the firm, which Fredericks declined to name, was made in the last 10 days, he said.
TEN owner Glenn Straub also said he was unaware of an offer. While that might be bizarre for the owner not to know of a sale offer, keep in mind Straub says lots of things, including that TEN would reopen on numerous occasions and never did.
If offer exists, TEN’s owner should probably take it
The history of TEN — formerly the Revel hotel and casino — is a sorted one. The gleaming resort was built for a pricetag of more than $2 billion before shutting down while suffering huge operating losses.
Straub swooped in and bought the property for pennies on the dollar — $82 million — back in 2015. If Straub were to turn around and sell it, that would give him nearly 3x return on his investment. (We don’t know exactly how much he’s spent on the property over the past two years.)
A sale would seem to make a lot of sense, given that Straub has shown an inability even to have a soft launch since taking over and consistently butted heads with state regulators.
Even Gov. Chris Christie has suggested that Straub either put up or shut up.
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Strike while the iron is hot in AC
If someone is going to try to reopen TEN in earnest, now appears to be the time:
- AC is undoubtedly in the middle of a bounce-back.
- Hard Rock International bought the Trump Taj Mahal, with plans to reopen next year.
- The owner of nearby Showboat is working to improve the area around both resorts.
Does an offer exist? And will Straub take it? It’s the latest mystery in the ongoing of TEN AC.