It was a decision that some industry commentators’ thought would never be made, however yesterday it was announced that MGM Resorts are to offload their flagship Vegas Strip based MGM Grand Casino Resort to private equity firm Blackstone.
Having opened back in 1993 that property has welcomed millions of guests and gamblers over the years and has been a hugely popular venue with those seeking the full Vegas experience.
Whilst private equity group Blackstone have paid some $2.5 billion for the property, MGM will continue to operate the casino for them, so no major changes regarding the operation of that venue are planned.
It was just a few months ago that MGM announced they were also offloading the Bellagio Hotel and Casino for $4.25 billion to Blackstone, which will position the new owners of those two properties as one of the largest landlords on the Strip, and they must feel it is worthwhile investment and one that should produce some decent returns on their investment moving forward.
MGM have been under a great deal of pressure recently from shareholders who have been demanding they liquidate many of their Vegas based assets, and it was back in October of last year that they also decided the time was right to sell the Circus-Circus Casino Resort to Phil Ruffin.
The sale of the latest property to be offloaded has seen the share value of Blackstone jump 1%, however it did also have the knock-on effect of MGM Resort shares falling some 0.5% in value.
Customer loyalty has also taken something of a knock recent for those onetime MGM Resorts owned properties, as they have been increasing the daily resort fee charged to guests staying at their resorts, those sky high resort fees however are unlikely to drop any time soon with MGM still running the venues on behalf of Blackstone.
