On Friday, Station Casinos is expected to auction off a majority of their assets and land holdings as a part of a bankruptcy proceeding, that some are calling tainted and unfair.
Last year Station sought bankruptcy protection on more than $5.6 billion in debt and has been cleared by the Judge to move forward as the stalking horse bidder on its own properties.
The founding family’s Fetitta brothers have formed a new venture Fertitta Gaming that will open the bidding process at $772 million. The bid is supported by majority lenders Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and Colony Capital.
Rival casino operator Boyd Gaming has attempted to buy up Station’s Las Vegas assets for the past 18 months and has been constantly rejected. Boyd was expected to be among those participating in Friday’s bidding, however earlier this week announced that they would no longer pursue the properties.
Boyd said that provisions in the auction made it difficult for an outside company to compete and receive value in the transaction. One provision allows Station to remove assets from the casinos, including IT infrastructure, customer lists and employees, while another provision requires an outside bidder to purchase the land under the Texas Station Casino for $75 million. The land is leased by the mother of the Fertitta brothers and would not apply if they remain the owners.
Attorneys for Station have said that other bidders have surfaced and they were currently determining if any of the qualified to proceed.






