Back in March Trump Entertainment enlisted Merrill Lynch to explore the company’s options, including a possible sale. Last December Trump failed in its bid for a licence in Pennsylvania, a licence that would have offset the downturn in Atlantic City casino revenue. The Trump Board of Directors created a Strategic Committee to evaluate the options and work with Merrill Lynch. On 17 May Trump announced the status of the strategic review, saying that the Committee had recently received preliminary and conditional indications of interest from parties proposing to acquire the company.

Trump Entertainment Resorts owns and operates three casinos, all in Atlantic City. The newly opened slots venues in Pennsylvania are already eating into the gaming revenues of Atlantic City and the partial smoking ban is having an effect. The Trump casinos, Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza and Trump Marina, also suffer from a lack of finance for the upgrades needed to keep them competitive. Donald Trump, despite leading his casino companies into bankruptcy on two occasions, remains Chairman and largest stockholder of the re-named Trump Entertainment Resorts.

The strategic review status announcement raised little comment. Indeed, the company itself admits that there is no assurance that any of the indications of interest will result in a sale. Reportedly discussions between Trump and Steve Wynn last year on a possible joint venture to develop a casino resort on the site of Trump Plaza came to nothing. Some analysts believe that one of the Atlantic City properties will have to be sold to give the company capital to upgrade the other two or to expand into new markets.
(E-05.21.07)

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