Wednesday, March 4, 2009

MGM Mirage Hires Restructuring Advisor: Game Over?

MGM Mirage's travails are widely known, with the most recent iteration being yesterday's announcement that it may breach covenants in the near term. And if anyone was ambiguous about the company's prospects, Debtwire reports that the company has hired restructuring advisory firm Evercore, which comes hot on the news that the casino and Dubai World have abandoned talks with Deutsche Bank, after being unsuccessful to secure a loan for the CityCenter debacle.

Debtwire reports also that the company has commenced amendment talks with a steering committee led by Bank of America, which has in turned hired Mayer Brown as legal advisor and is currently looking for a financial advisor (all you Managing Directors at Lazard reading this, call your analysts into the office stat: pitchbooks are a-waiting). Debtwire further states "The company could be in for a fight with holders of its unsecured $7 billion in bank debt, but management currently holds most of the cards, said multiple buysiders, [as] lenders have little incentive to see the company file for bankruptcy before they can negotiate some sort of security package due to the pari nature of loan with $7.5 billion in unsecured bonds." What have we always claimed about getting collateral if you want to be a bank lender?

Other losers on the deal are the overzealous buysiders who bought into the company's 13% notes of 2013 issued in November last year and already trading at 66 (soon to be trading much lower).

Turns out the only winners in this debacle are Bill Repko and David Ying of Evercore, who will likely be exclusive (and free) guests in the Kirk Kerkorian suite in Vegas for years to come. Sphere: Related Content
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