Station Casinos granted deadline extension on restructuring plan

A bankruptcy court judge today granted Station Casinos more time to submit its own restructuring plan.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregg Zive approved extending the deadline until Dec. 11. The original deadline was scheduled to expire this month.

Zive also scheduled hearings for Dec. 7 and Dec. 11 to hear arguments on a proposed compromise to lower the lease payments the gaming company is paying itself to lease some properties.

The proposed compromise would cut some of those monthly lease payments for the next few months.

As part of its buyout agreement, the company is leasing back the Red Rock Resort, Sunset Station, Palace Station and Boulder Station for $250 million per year from a separate subsidiary company.

The four properties, termed PropCo, are leveraged against $2.5 billion of the company’s nearly $6 billion debt load.

Some creditors have questioned whether the lease agreement shouldn’t be reworked or recharacterized as an unsecured claim.

Boyd Gaming Corp., which wants to buy some of Station Casinos’ assets, also revealed today that it has acquired nearly $2 million of Station Casinos’ senior notes since March.

Any tangible offer made by Boyd Gaming Corp. will be provided to the lenders of the majority of Station Casinos’ operating assets, Station Casinos attorney Thomas Kreller told the bankruptcy court that the company.

Independent lenders have been asking the judge to appoint an examiner to review whether Station Casinos properly considered Boyd's $950 million offer for some of the locals gaming companies’ properties.

The lenders withdrew that request after an agreement was reached that will give them a seat at the negotiating table, Kreller told the court.

Today's hearing lasted nearly two hours.

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.