Bahamas Casino Operator to Be Sold for $3 Billion to Chairman, Investors

Kerzner International Ltd., operator of the Atlantis casino in the Bahamas, agreed to be sold for about $3 billion to a group that includes the company´s chairman and chief executive officer. The shares had their biggest gain in more than three years.

The Kerzners will gain control of a company they built into the largest casino operator in the Caribbean, and the deal may allow them to fend off possible takeover bids amid a wave of mergers in the industry.

“There is immense global consolidation in this industry,” said casino-industry analyst Eugene Christiansen of New York- based Christiansen Capital Advisors. “Everyone is a target. No one is safe. That might be in their minds.”

The company operates the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, the Bahamas. The Kerzners control about 11 percent of the company´s shares.

The buyout follows two multibillion-dollar casino acquisitions last year, including Harrah´s Entertainment Inc.´s $6.9 billion takeover of Caesars Entertainment Inc.

The group will assume $599 million of debt, Paradise Island, Bahamas-based Kerzner said today in a statement. The sale price is 19 times the company´s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The deal will be completed by the middle of this year.