Last Tuesday, officials of Revel Casino Hotel filed a motion with the aim of receiving approval for terminating the deal with the Toronto-based company Brookfield Property Partners.
In addition, managers of the closed casino requested a hearing to be scheduled so the property can be officially sold to the runner up in the auction – Polo North Country Club Inc.
Two months ago, Brookfield placed a bid that amounted to $110 million and obtained the shuttered casino. Polo North Country Club became the company that proposed the second highest bid during the auction.
As a matter of fact, right before the auction, the owner of Polo, Glenn Straub, informed the media that company’s bid will be at least $130 million but according to the information released after the auction, Polo’s bid was equal to $90 million.
When it was announced that Polo is the runner up, Straub was bitterly disappointed with the results, as he counted on acquiring Revel and turning it into a “genius academy”. Straub even took matters to court with the aim of preventing Brookfield from acquiring Revel.
However, last month, things went in an unexpected direction when Brookfield’s managers announced that they are no longer interested in acquiring the casino. The bone of contention was the expensive maintenance of Revel’s power plant.
Despite the information, released in the media, no official notice about the deal termination was published. Yet, Brookfield authorities warned Revel that the deal might not be closed regardless of their efforts in that direction.
People, familiar with the problematic deal, commented that Brookfield’s officials tried to establish new economic terms that were literally unachievable. Then, they decided not to ink the deal and give their consent to the terms the Asset Purchase Agreement contained.
Later this week, there will be a hearing at the Bankruptcy Court and the utmost goal of Revel executives is to get an approval for selling the casino venue and the hotel facilities to Glenn Straub.
Even before Brookfield’s announcement, Straubb has never hidden that he was interested in obtaining Revel. He was hopeful that the academy he wanted to substitute the casino venue with, will become a thriving one and the brightest minds will be gathered to solve the most complicated issues humanity faces.
Revel was opened in 2012 but it is a well known fact that it has never become profitable. The venue filed for bankruptcy two times and September 2nd saw its final closure.
Apparently, Brookfield’s plan for re-opening Revel as a casino might not come true but pretty soon, media will be informed about the fate of the property.
