Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns last Wednesday launched syndication of a $740 million deal for Pinnacle Entertainment. The deal consists of a $440 million revolver and a $300 million delayed-draw term loan "B." The delayed-draw loan is broken into $200 million funded and $100 million unfunded. Pricing has not yet been determined. The loans will be used to refinance existing debt and allow for capital expenditures for projects in St. Louis.
The $375 million development in St. Louis, the River City Casino & Hotel, will open in 2008 and will include a casino with about 3,000 slot machines and 60 table games, a 100-room hotel, full service spa, restaurants, a movie theater, a bowling alley, an indoor ice rink, a public park with athletic fields and an entertainment venue. In the future there are plans to include about 280,000 of retail space. The company also has plans to build a million dollar community center, according to a press release.
The company was selected in early 2004 by the city and county of St. Louis and then by the Missouri Gaming Commission in a competitive bid process that included applications from several gaming companies, the release states. Pinnacle is based in Las Vegas and owns and operates casinos in Nevada, Louisiana, Indiana and Argentina, where it just opened a new casino in July. It also owns a hotel in Missouri. Calls to the company were not returned.