3 Degree Separation: AG/SB/CT/DS Connected To A $1B Gamble

[Editor-in-Chief]

Hoosier Park $1B gambling deal closes

Centaur Inc. closed today on a $1 billion private financing package to pay for new gambling operations at Hoosier Park in Anderson and a Pennsylvania casino.


The Indianapolis-based gaming company will spend more than $400 million to build a "racino" addition to its horse-racing operation in Anderson. Plans call for a 92,000 square-foot facility stocked with 2,000 slot machines.

A similar operation is planned for Indiana Downs near Shelbyville.

Centaur will use $250 million to pony up its racino licensing fee to the state.

The rest of the money is earmarked to build a harness-racing track in Western Pennsylvania, according to a news release issued by the company.

The deal was put together by Massachusetts-based Credit Suisse and funded in part by MH Equity, a local private equity fund led by Steve Hilbert. Wisconsin businessman John Menard also is a partner in MH Equity. The size of MH Equity's stake was not disclosed.

Hilbert and Centaur Chairman Rod Ratcliff were partners in developing the Argosy Gaming riverboat in Lawrenceburg in 1993, shortly after Indiana legalized casino gambling.

"Our success will mean more economic development in Indiana and more jobs for Hoosiers," Ratcliff said in a news release.

Source

[Editor-in-Chief]

Centaur closes on $1 billion financing package

by Steve Dick

According to Stephen C. Hilbert, CEO of MH Equity, “We are excited about our investment in Centaur Gaming. In 1993, I worked side by side with Rod to bring Argosy Gaming to Lawrenceburg, Ind., which soon became Indiana’s most successful casino.”

What is MH Equity?
MH Equity was formed by Steve and Tomisue Hilbert in August 2005 as Indiana’s largest private equity fund.

MH Equity’s investments include United Marketing Group, a leading direct marketer of affinity merchandise orders and membership-based services, and New Sunshine, the leader in providing products to the indoor tanning industry.

New Sunshine brands include Australian Gold, Designer Skin, California Tan, Swedish Beauty, ETS (the leading manufacturer of tanning beds) and Helios, the software leader for the indoor tanning industry.

MH Equity also provided capital to Orbcomm, a leading global satellite data communications company.

Source

[Editor-in-Chief]

NEW LOCAL: Centaur gets OK for funds to expand


By Nancy Lowry
New Castle News


Centaur Inc. yesterday secured international funding to continue to expand its growing gaming operation.

The Indiana-based company, which manages racing and gaming operations in several states and plans to open a harness racetrack/casino in Lawrence County, closed yesterday on a $1 billion package. This deal is said to be one of the largest transactions by a gaming company in Indiana state history.

Partnering with Centaur is MH Equity, the largest private equity fund in Indiana. Credit Suisse, a global investment banking firm, acted as lead arranger and administrative agent. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Roderick J. Ratcliff, chairman and chief executive officer of Centaur, said the transaction conveys the quality of Centaur’s projects and the people involved.

More than $400 million of the almost $1 billion package will be used to expand the gaming operation of Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind. That project is expected to create hundreds of new jobs in the state and has potential for thousands of more, indirect jobs.

About $250 million of the package will cover the licensing fees that will be available for property tax relief in Indiana.

The balance of the proceeds will be invested in Centaur’s other projects which include the track and casino in Lawrence County. This project is pending final gaming license approval.

Stephen C. Hilbert, chief executive office of MH Equity, said for the past 15 years he watched Ratcliff and his team create job opportunities in Indiana. Ratcliff’s projects included Argosy Gaming in Lawrenceburg, Ind., the most successful casino in Indiana, he said.

Ratcliff called MH Equity “Centaur’s strategy for the future.

“In addition to its role as a financing partner in our projects ... they have been and will continue to be important advocates for us as we continue our growth.”

Centaur, a privately-owned Indianapolis-based business, focuses on the economic development benefits of gaming and horse racing.

It has managed gaming operations in several states, including Indiana and Colorado.

Source

[Editor-in-Chief]

Familiar Name Behind Billion Dollar Deal to Revive Anderson , Track
Oct 31, 2007 06:19 PM EDT
By Mike Corbin
24-Hour News 8 @ 6:00

VideoSegment

ANDERSON, Ind. - A billion dollar deal currently in the works could help revive both the Hoosier Park horse track and the entire City of Anderson. A key player in the deal is former Conseco Head Stephen Hilbert. Hilbert's private equity firm, MH Equity is investing 200 million of the $1 billion being used to bring a casino to Hoosier Park in Anderson.

It's a deal with the horse track's owner, Indianapolis-based Centaur Incorporated, which is building the 92,000 square foot facility. It'll include 2,000 slot machines. Bank financing is covering the remainder of the project.

Jeff Smith of Centaur Inc. said, "We have a lot of people who will come to our facility for the slot machines. We hope to expose them to horse racing and get them involved with that industry and help grow that industry! That's been proven to do that in other locations!"

Both parties say as part of the deal, they're paying the state a $250 million licensing fee. Hilbert said he and Centaur go back 15 years. He found the idea to help the struggling Hoosier Park project, intriguing.

Hilbert reached a 250 million dollar settlement with Conseco over loans he took out while CEO. He says he's focused on the future. "Those are all gone and behind us! Everything has been settled. Everybody is happy and I think if you look at what we've done here at MH, it's pretty exciting!"

Hilbert and wife Tommy Sue founded MH Equity back in 2005. He says it's already the largest private equity firm in Indiana. Centaur has already broken ground on the casino. They say it should open in time for summer.

Source

[solarmeter®]

Lotion (goo) consolidation under a PE firm. Who woulda thunk?

[Ezliving_Jim]

Pennsylvania applicant asks to withdraw

13 May 2008

Pennsylvania applicant asks to withdraw



PENNSYLVANIA -- As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Stephen Hilbert, the flamboyant former chief executive of Conseco Inc. and would-be part-owner of a racetrack casino in Lawrence County, is asking Pennsylvania's casino regulatory panel if he can withdraw his application for a casino license, a move that would minimize the need for state investigators to dig into his personal and financial history.

"Mr. Hilbert and his Indiana-based MH Equity investment group still would be able to extend a line of credit to Centaur Inc., the racing company that is building Valley View Downs in Lawrence County. But Mr. Hilbert is backing out of an option that would give him 'the contractual right to acquire an equity interest in Centaur.'

"...In other words, he would no longer stand to be part-owner of the casino and racetrack.

"Had he acquired an equity interest, Mr. Hilbert would have profited more directly from the casino, and might have had a say in the operation of the casino and harness racing track. As a creditor, his relationship to Centaur would be like that between a bank and a borrower, profiting from interest paid on the loan.

"...Last year, Centaur closed on a $1 billion financing package that will pay for the $428 million racetrack casino west of New Castle, as well as projects in Colorado and Indiana state. M.H. Equity supplied $200 million of that $1 billion package..."

[Ezliving_Jim]

Barden doesn't yet have money to build casino


By Mike Wereschagin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Just five days before the payoff deadline on a $200 million loan, Don Barden hasn't secured the money he needs to build a North Shore casino, his attorney told state gambling regulators Wednesday.

The state Gaming Control Board planned to hold a meeting in Mercer County to review the $800 million financing package Barden is negotiating but postponed the meeting at Barden's request. His attorney, James Eisenhower, sent board members a letter requesting the delay Tuesday night and sought to reassure them yesterday.

"I just got off the phone with Mr. Barden. These negotiations went late into the night last night. They're continuing now as we speak. They will continue until we get the deal done," Eisenhower said.
Work on the Majestic Star Casino began in December, paid for by the $200 million bridge loan, which is due Monday. Barden expects to pay it off from the $800 million financing package. The casino, scheduled to open in a year, is expected to cost $770 million.

Barden risks defaulting on the loan if he doesn't get the money by Monday, according to testimony to the gambling board last month from another Barden attorney, Barbara Kaye. A possible extension on the loan is "one of the things we're negotiating," said Bob Oltmanns, Barden's spokesman.

"It's a very, very large deal," Eisenhower said. "It's a very complex deal, with many layers and players and moving parts."

Barden's company, PITG Gaming Inc., is seeking the money from a bevy of financiers, including Credit Suisse and other banks.

The terms of whatever deal Barden works out "go to the underpinnings of the financial suitability and viability of the licensee," said gambling board Chairwoman Mary DiGiacomo Colins.

Colins said she'd like the board to rule on the financing plan before the end of June and told Eisenhower to give the board "ample time" to review it. Once the board gets it, they should consider it at a regularly scheduled meeting, rather than rush to approve it, said board member Sanford Rivers.

"It's not going to be expedited," Rivers told Eisenhower.

The financing plan is part of a larger request Barden made to board members when he asked them to let him change some of the plans he submitted before they granted him Pittsburgh's lone slots license. Barden also wants to delay building a ballroom and outdoor amphitheater, and to stretch out his $3 million commitment to the Hill District over five years instead of three.

The delay in locking down money to build the casino doesn't concern Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

"I was just down past the casino yesterday, and steel's coming out of the ground, and they're moving forward," Ravenstahl said. "That's far ahead of schedule versus any other (stand-alone) casino in the state, and I think that's good news. Certainly, with the volatile economy the way it is, it's hard to finance anything, whether that's a casino or another development project." The board plans to meet again today to hear public comment on Valley View Downs, a planned Lawrence County harness racing track, which is expected to win the last available racetrack casino license.

Stephen Hilbert has asked the board to allow him to withdraw as a partner in the track, which would mean he would have no equity in the project but also won't be subject to a background investigation. The request is not on the board's agenda.

Barden doesn't yet have money to build casino - PittsburghLIVE.com

[Ezliving_Jim]

Big Trouble: MH Equity Investment In $430 Million Racetrack/Casino Is In Trouble