East Coast Gambler

Trump Plaza closed for at least a little while on Friday due to broken air conditioning.  Here’s a report from last night.

Thanks to RDP for the tip!

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Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc is about to emerge from bankruptcy and the bondholders are ready to do work getting Trump Casinos into a better place.  Plans include updating Trump Plaza and selling Trump Marina.

Trump Entertainment’s new owners plan to spend money updating Trump Plaza, and want to attract more families to Atlantic City in order to compete with new casinos closer to their homes in nearby states, Lasry said today during commission questioning.

Coastal Marina LLC, controlled by Richard T. Fields, had agreed in 2008 to buy Trump Marina and turn it into a Margaritaville casino resort. Last year, Fields renegotiated the deal, which included settlement of an unrelated lawsuit, and then reached yet another plan with bondholders to buy the Marina before Trump switched sides and aligned with them.

These are welcome changes and potential additions.  My last experience at Trump Plaza was nice, but the casino doesn’t seem as if it’s been updated since the 80′s.  A makeover will do nicely.

I’m not a parrothead, but I love the attitude of Jimmy Buffett fans.  All they want to do is drink and have a good time.  Even if Trump Marina doesn’t become the next Margaritavile casino, new owners and a major face lift will do the casino good.  It’s the only ugly property at the marina area, which is becoming more popular with young casino-goers every day.

Photo: www.oldvegaschips.com

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Trump Casinos will emerge from bankruptcy this summer with a lot more debt and a lot more Ivanka.

Expect to see a lot more of Ivanka Trump in the coming months, as she becomes one of the main public faces of Trump Entertainment. Already familiar from Trump Entertainment billboards in and around Atlantic City dating from the days before she and her father quit its board amid the bankruptcy filing, the executive vice president of development & acquisitions for the Trump Organization will play a larger role in marketing Trump Entertainment as well.

“We’re going to include her in a lot of things, marketing, advertising,” Donald Trump said. “The bondholders like both of us, but they’ve really gotten into Ivanka.”

Well now.  Here’s the article from AP if you’d like to read more about the business side of things.  See below for more Ivanka.

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Still dealing with bankruptcy, Trump Resorts in Atlantic City is reconsidering the possibility of selling Trump marina.

In testimony Wednesday, Trump Entertainment’s financial adviser said Trump Marina’s sale would help stabilize the company amid declining revenue and lower earnings projections. He predicted a deal with Fields would be completed by the end of 2011, if not sooner.

“It is our strong belief that the Marina will be sold,” said Andrew Yearley, managing director at Lazard Freres & Co. “They will find a way to sell that asset. There is a legitimate buyer out there.”

This could also still be an option that Carl Icahn had in mind if he wins the battle for the Trump casinos.  The article also mentions that if Icahn were to get control of Trump casinos that he would keep Taj Mahal and try to sell Trump Marina and Trump Plaza.

There is hopes for the Parrotheads after all!  Now, things get interesting.

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Earlier this month Carl Icahn said, in a deposition, that he may sell two of the three Trump Casinos in Atlantic City if he wins the bankruptcy battle he’s in with Donald Trump.

“You could sell the Marina and the Plaza,” he said in the deposition, taped on Feb. 2.

Icahn added that he has not yet made up his mind, although he believes “it might make some sense to sell them.”

It’s a good thing Icahn is buying these properties at a discount because the value is dropping by the minute.  I imagine Icahn knows what he’s getting involved with here, but I’d probably try to run away from these deals, unless I had a huge surplus of money to play with.

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Trump Casinos are worth about 75% less than they were a year ago.  According to the New York Post the casino group went from being worth $2 billion last year to being worth “just $459 million.  The casinos continue to drop in valuation quickly as the group was worth $500 million a month ago.

The new, lower valuation comes just two days before US Bankruptcy Court Judge Judith Wizmur is scheduled to make a decision on two competing reorganization plans, one prepared by a group of debtors being backed by the company and the Donald, and another being presented by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn.

Additionally, Carl Icahn is stepping up pressure to acquire the Trump casinos by throwing some of his personal cash in the mix.

Billionaire Carl C. Icahn’s investment company is “putting its money where its mouth is” by offering to pump $125 million of its own funds into the bankrupt Trump casinos, according to newly released documents.

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