Stratospere sale; Bally-Sands deal

from Las Vegas Business Press 4/24/07

Stratosphere owner announces casino sale
Bally lands $56 million deal
By Matt Ward

"American Real Estate Partners announced the sale of its four Nevada gaming operations Monday to Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds in a $1.3 billion deal.

The deal will need approval from state gaming regulators before Whitehall, an affiliate of Goldman, Sachs & Co, takes possession of the Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower, Arizona Charlie’s Decatur, Arizona Charlie’s Boulder and Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin. Also included in the deal are 17 acres of undeveloped land surrounding the Stratosphere.

Investor Carl Icahn, chairman and general partner of AREP, said in a statement that he anticipates the company realizing a $1 billion profit on its initial investment in gaming properties in 1998 when the company purchased the Stratosphere." ...

"In other gaming news, Bally Technologies Inc. announced Monday that it had signed a $56 million deal with casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS will purchase a variety of Bally gaming products for its nine casino resorts in Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore.

Included in the contract are casino management systems, slot management products, cashless gaming solutions and interactive displays for up to 16,000 slot machines, the companies reported."

for the complete story see: http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2007/04/24/news/news_update/doc462d111cb41c1460423747.txt