Standard General is acquiring the Bally’s Corporation in a deal worth $4.6 billion. The acquisition, which was completed this week, will see Bally’s merging with The Queens Casino & Entertainment Inc. It’s a blockbuster deal that turns Standard General into a major player in the US gaming market.
This merger/acquisition has been in the works for quite some time now and puts Standard General in the driver’s seat of a company it’s already established deep ties with. Standard General, which is a hedge fund, already owns a large percentage of Bally’s shares and its leader Su Kim is currently the Chairman of Bally’s.
Standard General’s purchase price of $18.25 a share represents a 35 percent premium on the stock’s price as of Wednesday. That said, it also represents a 47 percent decrease from the $35 a share offer the company made in 2022, which was rejected by shareholders.
Chairman Kim was all business in his reaction to the deal in a press statement saying, “The Transaction provides Bally’s stockholders with a significant cash premium along with certainty of value for their investment or, if they elect to retain their shares, the opportunity to participate in the longer-term growth prospects of our expanded portfolio and significant development pipeline. The addition of the complementary QC&E assets builds upon the Company’s attractive growth profile. We look forward to working with the Board of Directors and the Company’s senior management team as they continue to execute on their business plan.”
As of this writing, Bally’s owns 15 casinos and a race track which are spread out across four states. It’s expected that they’ll be fully merged with Standard General’s four properties in Nevada by sometime in 2025.