Archive for the ‘Magna Entertainment’ Category
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
In a complete surprise to most, Magna Entertainment boss Frank Stronach has announced he plans to keep the Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita Park despite recent problems with draining the track that have caused numerous cancellations.
Stranger than the decision perhaps is the reason behind the decision. Throughout the bankruptcy process of Magna Entertainment, Stronach has insisted on maintaining ownership of Santa Anita through a different Magna company, MI Developments, despite unloading several other tracks recently. Yet he is saying he will not invest in a new surface until the industry changes its business model.
If he believes racing is broken and won’t do the things necessary to fix the situation at his own track (regardless of your feelings on synthetics, it’s clear there needs to be some sort of surface change at Santa Anita), why is he holding the Arcadia track and California racing industry hostage?
Read it at the Daily Bulletin
Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think
- Bradford Cummings
Tags: bradford cummings, Daily Bulletin, Frank Stronach, Magna Entertainment, mi developments, Paulick Report, pro-ride, santa anita
Posted in Magna Entertainment, santa anita park | 27 Comments »
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Richard Eng chimed in on the recent Magna deal reached with creditors to maintain control of Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields and XpressBet.
Despite such flops like the Horse Wizard slot machine, ultimately he makes a strong pitch for us to root for MEC to succeed ‘because way too much has been invested’.
Click here for the rest of the Las Vegas Review-Journal article
Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think
- Bradford Cummings
Tags: bradford cummings, Frank Stronach, golden gate fields, gulfstream park, Horse Wizard, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Magna, mec, Paulick Report, Richard Eng, santa anita, xpressbet
Posted in Magna Entertainment | 20 Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
By Ray Paulick
How cold was it at Gulfstream Park in South Florida last weekend? So cold that local legend Hash Weinstein thought of wearing socks for the first time in his life. So cold the volleyballs at Frank’s beach all were sadly deflated. It was so cold racing fans couldn’t have cared less whether or not there were enough outdoor seats for them at the track that was once a winter paradise.
This was my first trip to Gulfstream Park since Magna Entertainment chairman Frank Stronach turned it into a multi-purpose facility: one with slot machines, an aquarium, upscale restaurants and a mostly empty shopping mall, the Village at Gulfstream Park, scheduled for a “grand opening” next month. There’s currently a Crate and Barrel and The Container Store at the mall, so it’s a good place to come if you need boxes.
Some Gulfstream Park employees are talking about the positive effect the Village will have on racing “if” it fills up and is successful—not when. It’s a tough economic market, and MEC doesn’t have the greatest track record in the retail world—much less the pari-mutuel one.
.jpg) I’ve been to worse facilities than Gulfstream Park (and there really are some things to like about it), but never to a place that seemed so much in denial about being a racetrack. It was difficult to tell, for example, when pulling into the parking lot, exactly where the racetrack and grandstand (what there is of it) are located. Signs at the walk-in entrance failed to tell patrons where to go to see live racing, though there was plenty of help in finding Christine Lee’s or the Ten Palms restaurants, the slots parlors or even the Silks Simulcast Center.
The walking ring is centrally located for future mall shoppers (“Hey, Mom, look…pony rides!) and even for racing fans, but anyone who wants to see the horses being saddled is out of luck. The saddling enclosure appears to be in an undisclosed location somewhere under the grandstand and out of sight.
I asked someone at Gulfstream where the horsemen generally hang out and was told “they mostly don’t come here.” Someone else said “Tampa Bay Downs.” There are those few rows of seats in front of the glass-enclosed dining room where a couple hundred folks will sit on a warm day and enjoy the races without spending $32 on a buffet lunch or $16 on a cup of Lo Mein noodles from Christine Lee’s (where you can see pictures of celebrities like Lucille Ball, Mel Brooks and Frank Stronach!), but they were empty on this 45-degree Sunday. There were more shivering mutuel clerks than fans outside braving the cold.
 The slots parlor had that familiar ringy-ding-ding background noise that serves as a siren call to folks who like to throw coins into a “Wheel of Fortune” machine. There is a beautiful fish tank in the middle of one of the casino rooms, too, reminding you that you’re in a tropical paradise. They even had a few television monitors showing the racing action just outside the room, along with simulcasts and an NFL playoff game, but when I asked someone where I could go to make a horse racing bet I got an empty shrug.
I searched the casino for a betting machine and finally found one—ONE!—off in the corner, literally hidden behind a curtain like the X-rated porn in a video store.
The simulcast room was fine, with rows and rows of TV-equipped cubicles, but I don’t  think I’d want to be in here on a nice warm day. Not nearly big enough. I’ll try Frank’s beach or the Jameson playground—both of which looked like deserted beaches on this day. At least you can see part of the racetrack from there.
I haven’t read any official pari-mutuel handle figures since opening day, when they were down significantly from last year, but a very good source said the daily average has dropped nearly one-third from 2009. The combination of bad weather and unfriendly facilities hurts, but the biggest factor is the plunge in off-track bets due to an impasse involving the Mid-Atlantic racetrack cooperative and TrackNet Media, which negotiates simulcast contracts for MEC, Churchill Downs tracks and Oaklawn Park.
The new Gulfstream Park, complete with its Village mall, is not fully baked yet. The jury is still out as to whether the whole thing was a half-baked idea to begin with.
Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report
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Tags: Frank Stronach, gulfstream park, magna entertainmet, mec, mid-atlantic cooperative, tampa bay downs, tracknet media, village at gulfstream park
Posted in Florida, Magna Entertainment, Simulcasting, Slot machines, gulfstream park | 36 Comments »
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
According to the the Baltimore Sun’s editorial board, fighting to have slots at Laurel Park over the current proposed site at Arundel Mills mall would actually be bad for racing. They claim that with 4,750 machines and potentially $100 million a year in revenue for Maryland’s racetracks, ‘the Arundel Mills proposal stands to pour a tremendous amount of money into the industry.
Click here to read the entire editorial and then come back to the Paulick Report to add your two cents worth.
- Bradford Cummings
Tags: Arundel Mills, Baltimore Sun, bradford cummings, editorial board, Maryland racing, Paulick Report
Posted in Magna Entertainment, Maryland Horse Industry, Maryland Jockey Club, Slot machines | 15 Comments »
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Saying he is fed up with what he called the “most unprofessional process†he has ever seen, Internet entrepreneur and Thoroughbred owner Halsey Minor told the Paulick Report he has withdrawn from the bidding for the bankrupt Magna Entertainment (MEC) racetracks.“Magna Entertainment was to bankruptcy when dead what Magna Entertainment was to corporate responsibility and governance when alive,†he said. Minor said he “finally threw in the towel when they refused to allow me to speak and partner with one of America’s most profitable and respected gaming companies for the purpose of getting the value of my offer higher. … The shifting assortment of people ‘running’ the bankruptcy denied my right without ever feeling the need to even articulate a reason.â€
Minor’s decision came the same week U.S. bankruptcy court Judge Mary Walrath approved a request by the committee of unsecured creditors to include Magna chairman Frank Stronach and certain directors of the MEC in a lawsuit against Magna’s parent company, MI Developments, for allegedly preventing MEC from selling off some of its assets to avoid bankruptcy. The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy March 5.
The suit, filed July 21, said in its preliminary statement that “the MEC bankruptcy did not need to happen†if the company had sold some of its assets and raised equity. “Rather,†the suit states, “the MID Defendant, MID members of MEC’s Board of Directors, MEC management and Tom Hodgson worked together to make sure that asset sales were limited and that key properties –properties that MEC told the world would be sold to the highest bidder–were in fact set aside for MID and its controlling shareholder, Frank Stronach. MID, MEC management, Stronach, and those working with them stubbornly refused to sell MEC’s marketable assets, even after repeatedly telling the investing public in SEC filings and on investor conference calls that they would; and even after they knew that their refusal to act could violate their fiduciary duties. Instead of marketing MEC’s assets in good faith, Stronach and MID (which Stronach controls), larded MEC with purported loans (secured no less) to keep the failing MEC temporarily afloat, thereby ensuring that the MID Defendant would leapfrog ahead of the pre-existing unsecured debt (including $225 millon in unsecured bonds issued in 2002 and 2003) in an effort to protect MID’s equity ownership over MEC’s assets.â€
Stronach, the suit alleges, “used his control of MID to set up a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ financing model.†If MEC’s performance improved, MID and its shareholders stood to profit, the suit says. If MEC were forced into bankruptcy, MID would use credit bids to retain the most coveted racetrack assets.
Click here for a copy of the unsecured creditors lawsuit, which outlines the history of Magna Entertainment and comments on much of the corporate, financial and governance intrigue behind the failed company.
In a proposal made last fall, Minor offered to buy MID’s bridge loans to Magna. He made a similar offer in April after Magna filed for bankruptcy. Minor said he was partnering on the proposal with California supermarket mogul Ron Burkle
, who is listed by Forbes magazine as the 105th wealthiest American, with a net worth of $3.5 billion. Burkle is a major political donor, almost exclusively to Democrats, though he has also contributed to California’s Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was dubbed the “Billionaire Party Boy†by the New York Post, whose Page Six author Jared Paul Stern allegedly attempted to extort $220,000 from Burkle to stop negative stories about him from appearing in the tabloid paper.
“He is one of the five most influential people in Los Angeles,†Minor said of Burkle. “He’s an extraordinary investor with a sterling reputation, and he’s plugged in to the Hollywood crowd, something racing could use.
“After we submitted our offer I sent an email to MID asking if we could talk with this major casino company,†Minor continued. “I don’t want to name them, but they are extremely profitable and were interested.†Minor said he got an answer saying the offer would not be presented to the MID board because of the new issue involving a casino company.
“It’s so irrational,†Minor said. “They don’t even have a reason. They’re violating their duty, which is to get the maximum amount of money. When these guys are holding me back from doing that, when I have the strongest offer, it’s unconscionable. I’ve pursued this for a long time and spent a lot of money, but there is a limit as to how far someone will go to try and buy a business.â€
Minor also accused Magna’s interim chief executive officer, Greg Rayburn (who served as chief restructuring officer for WorldCom during what then was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history), of having a duel role as an adviser to MI Developments, giving him an “utter and complete conflict of interest.â€
Because numbers at Magna tracks are “falling off the cliff,†Minor said, the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA) has “absolutely nosedived.†He said Santa Anita’s EBITDA will have gone from $22 million to $8 million next year. As a result, he said, the track properties have dramatically fallen in value. “There are sub-$100-million bids for Santa Anita,†Minor said. Stronach paid $126 million for the Arcadia, Calif., track in 1998.
“The bids (for some Magna tracks) will be so bad that MID is going to have to credit bid, use their $400 million in debt to go in and buy back the assets, so the track will come back into the same parent company that bankrupted them in the first place,†he said. “That will trigger (investment fund) Greenlight and others to have a conniption because MID will not just lend the money but own the assets outright. There are bidders, but there’s no one to say ‘I will pay more.’
“I told (MID chief executive) Dennis Mills last year Magna was going bankrupt, and he said I was completely wrong, didn’t know what I was talking about, was a bomb thrower. I told Frank (Stronach) that if he went forward with the 363 process (stalking horse bid) and the unsecured creditors got nothing, they would sue him corporately and personally. I’ve told him the money will be tied up in escrow as litigation drags on for years, and said I believe from the work I’ve done that he will lose. The banks will get paid, the unsecureds will get paid, and what’s left will come to him after two years.
“All I’ve asked is, ‘Can I put something together with each of the parties that prevents going down the path of two years of litigation?’ But the basic answer is ‘no.’
“I said a year ago I wanted to prevent an ugly, destructive bankruptcy. We are about to see one hell of a an ugly and destructive bankruptcy. Who knows where these assets will end up? We won’t even know when they are sold who the beneficiary is.
“There will be more lawsuits coming. Frank is not going to let Gulfstream Park be sold for $20 million. So he will buy it back into MID, then what do you think is going to happen? It’s just starting, and it’s like the company itself: it just gets worse and worse and worse.â€
Minor said he is stunned that Stronach is considered a front-runner to acquire the German automobile company Opel from General Motors.
“How any sovereign nation can look at money losing Magna International, and chaotic, governance plagued MI Development, and bankrupt Magna Entertainment and decide that Frank Stronach should come near their industrial base absolutely defies all laws of common sense and business,†he said. “The title for his foray into the U.S. Thoroughbred business has now been officially written: Veni, Vidi, Deletum. ‘I Came. I Saw. I Destroyed.’â€
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: dennis mills, Frank Stronach, general motors, greenlight financial, gulfstream park, Halsey Minor, Magna, magna bankruptcy, Magna Entertainment, magna international, mary walrath, mec, mec bankruptcy, mid, mid developments, opel, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, ron burkle, stronach, tom hodgson, veni vidi deletum
Posted in Halsey Minor, Magna Entertainment | 28 Comments »
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
The Paulick Report has learned that the Thoroughbred Owners of California has submitted an “expression of interest” to buy Santa Anita Park, which is in the process of being sold as part of the bankruptcy proceedings involving the track’s current owner, Magna Entertainment. According to sources, TOC’s plans would be to form a non-profit company to own and operate the Arcadia, Calif., track that averaged nearly 33,000 in daily on-track attendance as recently as 1985 but sees about one-fourth of that number today.
Drew Couto, president of TOC, confirmed Wednesday night that the owners’ organization has filed an intention to bid on Santa Anita but would not offer any additional comment. It is not known if there are individual investors behind the proposed bid or if the funding would be institutional.
The paperwork filed with the expression of interest to bid on Santa Anita is only the first step in the process. TOC will then have to be ruled as a “qualified” bidder after Miller Buckfire and Co., the bankruptcy specialist firm handling the sale of the Magna tracks, reviews its application. The deadline for expressing an interest in bidding was May 27, and formal bids must be submitted by July 31. If necessary, an auction on the properties may take place in September. (Click here for more information on bankruptcy bidding processes.)
There have been many rumors circulating through Southern California that another bidder for the track represents Chinese interests. Internet entrepreneur Halsey Minor has also expressed an interest in acquiring some of the tracks through the purchase of Magna Entertainment’s accumulated debt. MI Developments, which like Magna Enterainment was a spinoff of the automotive giant Magna International, submitted a “stalking horse bid” for a number of the tracks in the original bankruptcy filing in March. Since then, however, MI Developments, the largest shareholder in Magna Entertainment, has backed away under the threat of litigation from many of its institutional shareholders.
There are profound fears in the California Thoroughbred community that if Santa Anita is sold to a development company, racing in the Golden State would soon be extinct. Bay Meadows racetrack in Northern California has been torn down for future development by the Bay Meadows Land Co., which also owns Hollywood Park, where plans for mixed-use development could kill live racing at the end of this year. If Santa Anita is sold for development purposes, the only major track remaining in Southern California would be the Del Mar, which races from mid-July to early September. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has listed Del Mar, which is owned by the state of California, as a potential property the financially troubled state may attempt to sell.
A successful bid by TOC on Santa Anita Park could go a long way toward preserving the California racing industry.
Magna Entertainment also owns Gulfstream Park in Florida, PImlico and Laurel in Maryland, Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, Lone Star Park in Texas, Remington Park in Oklahoma, Thistledown in Ohio, and Portland Meadows in Oregon.
Santa Anita Park, which opened in December 1934, was purchased by Magna chairman Frank Stronach for $126 million in 1998.
TOC was incorporated in 1993 and eventually replaced the California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association as the recognized organization representing horse owners in the state.
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Tags: california horse racing, drew couto, Frank Stronach, horsemen's benevolent and protective association, magna bankruptcy, magna bidding process, Magna Entertainment, Miller Buckfire, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, santa anita park, thoroughbred owners of california, toc
Posted in California, Magna Entertainment, santa anita park | 10 Comments »
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Halsey Minor, the Internet entrepreneur and Thoroughbred owner and breeder who made a failed bid to buy Hialeah Park from John Brunetti last year, is poised to make an offer to reorganize bankrupt Magna Entertainment (MEC) and take control of the company from founder Frank Stronach, the Paulick Report has learned.
The anticipated offer comes at a time when opposition to MEC’s plans to auction some of its assets is mounting from both creditors and shareholders in MI Developments, MEC’s parent company. According to a published report, the creditors have focused on the control that Eclipse Award-winning owner and breeder Stronach wields over not just MEC, but MI Developments. MI Developments, in addition to being the largest shareholder in MEC, is a major creditor that in the bankruptcy filing made a stalking horse bid for some of MEC’s assets. The court-appointed committee of creditors charged the proceedings are “overrun with serious conflicts of interest.”
Minor’s offer, the Paulick Report has learned, will pay off in full the debt owed to MI Developments by MEC (about $175 million), assume the debt on several bank notes while asking for an extension of time for repayment, and provide an option to the holders of $225 million in convertible bonds, either paying them roughly 25 cents on the dollar up front or offering 100% of the value as a new bond maturing in three years. Minor would take over management of the newly reorganized company upon acceptance of the deal by the creditors committee and the bankruptcy court.
This is not the first time Minor has made a run at MEC. Last October, the founder of the Internet company CNET proposed to the MI Developments board of directors that he would buy the outstanding loans from MID to MEC. That offer was not accepted, but now that the company has entered chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings it has far less wiggle room.
“The goal would be to take control of the Magna tracks away from MI Developments and begin the process of rebuilding much of what has been harmed over the previous five years," Minor said in October. "Magna Entertainment, as a company, clearly has little chance of survival. The idea is to prevent a bankruptcy which would be disastrous for the industry and to begin to rebuild the company. The goal, first and foremost, is to stop the uncontrolled bankruptcy, which is almost inevitable. You can’t lose $120 million a year in this environment and continue.
“Frank Stronach only owns 2% of MI Development but has been using that company to prop up Magna Entertainment, which has basically been a bankrupt company for three years. It only exists because MI Developments continues to put money into a company whose losses are in excess of $100 million a year.
Magna filed bankruptcy on March 5. Click here for the history of the company and here for a list of its major creditors.
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Tags: Frank Stronach, Halsey Minor, magna bankrupt, magna bankruptcy, Magna Entertainment, magna entertainment bankruptcy, mec, mi developments, mid, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, stronach bankruptcy
Posted in Halsey Minor, Magna Entertainment | 28 Comments »
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
One of the creditors in the Magna Entertainment bankruptcy, citing a Florida statute that deals specifically with suppliers of feed and bedding products to facilities where racehorses, polo ponies and racing greyhounds are stabled, has filed liens on hundreds of horses located at Magna’s Palm Meadows training center in Florida.
Wood Mulch Products of Orlando, Fla., which supplies wood-chip bedding for Palm Meadows, had two checks from a Magna affiliate returned for non-sufficient funds, according to Brad Davis of the law firm of Davis & Kennedy, who is working on behalf of the creditor. Magna, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 5, allegedly owes Wood Mulch Products more than $250,000.
“There is a statute here in Florida, which I’m sure the bankruptcy lawyers will challenge, that provides that any vendor of feed and bedding materials to racehorses or polo horses or dogs that race is entitled to a lien on any animal that was present on the premises where the goods were delivered,” said Davis.
The statute, 713.66, can be viewed here. It states that liens can be applied to the owner, or the agent, bailee, lessee, or custodian of the owner of horses stabled where the supplies were delivered.
“I don’t think (the statute) has been challenged,” said Davis. “There are a few cases related to it.”
Davis said the liens would be valid even if the horses now stabled at Palm Meadows leave the state of Florida.
A lien gives a claimant the right to retain the lawful possession of the property of another until a legal duty such as payment for services or products is made.
Palm Meadows in Palm Beach County, about 45 miles north of Gulfstream Park, was built by Magna Entertainment at a cost of about $90 million. The facility is open from Nov. 1-May 1, with a $12 per day charge for each of the 1,440 stalls.
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Tags: brad davis, davis & kennedy, florida statute 713.66, Magna, magna bankrupt, magna bankruptcy, Magna Entertainment, magna entertainment bankruptcy, palm meadows, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, wood mulch products
Posted in Florida, Magna Entertainment, gulfstream park | 11 Comments »
Monday, March 16th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Legislation approved by the Kentucky state Senate on Friday would pave the way for the Breeders’ Cup to make an emergency return to Churchill Downs this year in the event complications with Magna Entertainment’s bankruptcy prevent the Oak Tree Racing Association from hosting the two-day championships this fall at Santa Anita Park in California as scheduled.
The economic development bill, HB229, passed the House earlier this session and was amended by the Senate on Friday to include several incentives, including a pari-mutuel excise tax credit submitted by Republican Sen. Damon Thayer that would only go into effect if the Breeders’ Cup is held in Kentucky a minimum of two times between 2009 and 2012. The credit would remain on the books indefinitely, provided the Breeders’ Cup returns to Kentucky on a continuous basis of at least once every three years. Churchill Downs has hosted the Breeders’ Cup six times, in 1988, ’91, ’94, ’96, 2000 and ‘06 — more than any other track. The Keeneland Association is also looking into substantial expansion to its racing facility in Lexington in order to become a potential Breeders’ Cup host.
The pari-mutuel excise tax credits go to the racetrack, which contracts with Breeders’ Cup for distribution of pari-mutuel handle and other sources of revenue from the championships.
The 2010 Breeders’ Cup is scheduled for Churchill Downs, but no sites have been determined for future runnings. If this year’s Breeders’ Cup stays in California, Thayer told the Paulick Report that for the 2010 tax credits to kick in, the Breeders’ Cup will have to be contractually obligated to return to Kentucky in 2011 or 2012. He estimated the tax credit was worth $700,000 when the Breeders’ Cup was last staged at Churchill Downs as a one-day event in 2006. The amendment requires a minimum of $500,000 of the tax credit be used to fund Breeders’ Cup undercard races.
Thayer worked for the Breeders’ Cup from 1999 until parting ways with the organization in 2007, when he was vice president of event management. He started his own consulting firm and was given a six-month deal with the Breeders’ Cup to help with the 2007 championships at Monmouth Park – its first year as a two-day event – but that deal was not renewed.
The racing industry veteran and second-term state senator pushed for the Breeders’ Cup incentives in spite of any bitterness over his parting with the organization.
“As a legislator I have a responsibility to enact policy that I believe is beneficial to the commonwealth and having the Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky is an economic windfall for the state,” he said. “The University of Louisville said it has a $30-million impact for a one day event, and I’m no economist but I would think a two-day event could be worth $40-$50 million. Plus, the horse sales in Lexington that follow the Breeders’ Cup benefit by the Breeders’ Cup being in Kentucky. A rising tide lifts all ships. I tried to put any of my personal feelings aside and try to do what was right for Kentucky and the horse industry — which are not mutually exclusive, by the way.”
Though Breeders’ Cup president Greg Avioli has publicly stated the bankruptcy of Magna should not affect the ability of the Oak Tree Racing Association to host the event this year, Breeders’ Cup has retained legal counsel that specializes in bankruptcy and has Churchill Downs pegged as an emergency backup site. There are some fears that a bankruptcy trustee could nullify any leases that are not profitable to Magna, which could leave Oak Tree without a home.
“I’m well aware of the issues with Magna and how it could affect the Breeders’ Cup and Oak Tree, and that’s why I included 2009 in the Breeders’ Cup tax credit legislation,” Thayer said. “If there’s a chance Kentucky could get it back, I wanted to make sure the definition included a two-day event instead of a the one-day event that’s currently on the books.”
Thayer also submitted a one-day pari-mutuel excise tax credits to all Kentucky tracks that race 30 days or more, with Kentucky Oaks, Derby and Blue Grass days not eligible.
The same economic development bill includes a sales tax rebate for Kentucky Speedway, which is now owned by billionaire Bruton Smith’s Speedway Motorsports. The rebate will pay for 25% of the renovations to Kentucky Speedway if the track is able to secure a NASCAR event.
The bill returns to the House, where it is expected to be passed during the final two days of the General Assembly’s regular session March 26-27.
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Tags: 2009 breeders' cup, 2010 breeders' cup, Breeders' Cup, Breeders' Cup championships, churchill downs, damon thayer, Greg Avioli, hb229, Keeneland, magna bankruptcy, Magna Entertainment, magna entertainment bankruptcy, oak tree racing association, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, santa anita park
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Churchill Downs Inc., Keeneland, Kentucky, Magna Entertainment | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
A hearing has been scheduled for April 3 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to consider a motion requested by bankrupt Magna Entertainment to auction some of its assets on July 16.
Included in the proposed auction, tentatively scheduled at the New York offices of Weil Gotshal and Manges, is Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., Palm Meadows training center in Palm Beach County, Fla., the AmTote totalizator company, Magna’s 50% interest in the Village at Gulfstream mall, the XpressBet advance deposit wagering company, and the partnership interest in Lone Star Park, a Grand Prairie, Texas, racetrack built on leased property.
In Magna Entertainment’s chapter 11 filing, parent company MI Developments made a stalking horse bid for those assets of $195 million. The auction has been proposed in the event more than one party makes a qualified bid on any of the properties.
Not included in the proposed auction is Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., the Maryland Jockey Club tracks Pimlico in Baltimore and Laurel Park in Laurel, Thistledown near Cleveland, Ohio, and Portland Meadows in Portland, Ore. Miller Buckfire and Co., and a financial adviser and investment banker hired by Magna in 2008, is handling a marketing and sale process for all Magna Entertainment’s assets.
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Tags: lone star park, Magna auction, Magna Entertainment, magna entertainment bankruptcy
Posted in Magna Entertainment, Race Tracks | 1 Comment »
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