Bally’s Corp. has closed a financing package led by WhiteHawk Capital Partners and received initial term loans with an aggregate principal amount of $400 million for its planned casino in the Bronx, New York.
The $4 billion integrated resort is expected to open by 2030.
The company will apply the proceeds to pre-construction costs and expenditures connected to the Bally’s Bronx development. A portion of the funds will also cover general corporate purposes, which include transaction fees and expenses incurred at closing.
The financing also includes delayed draw term loan commitments with an aggregate amount of $160 million. Bally’s can access these funds through future draws to support the continued development of the project.
Citizens Capital Markets & Advisory acted as financial advisor to Bally’s on the transaction, while Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP served as its legal advisor.
A golf course site turns into a gaming resort
Plans for the property call for 3 million square feet of gaming facilities, a 500-room hotel, a 2,000-person event center and an 18-hole golf course.
The casino will rise at the site of a golf course once owned by President Donald Trump. The project will span 16 acres of parking lots and practice green area at Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point and convert a former landfill into the borough’s largest single private development.
Several builds on one balance sheet
The Rhode Island-based company, which also owns Bally’s Atlantic City, is building new casinos at the same time in several major US markets, among them New York, Chicago and Las Vegas.
Bally’s said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year that it may struggle with its debt over the next year. The company added in the filing that there is “substantial doubt” about its ability to “continue as a going concern.”
The company has also slowed the pace of construction on its Chicago casino. The slowdown has come during a push-and-pull with the city, which approved video gambling terminals for some bars and restaurants, a move that greatly dismayed Bally’s.
Bally’s is “pursuing a number of financing alternatives to enhance its liquidity, including asset monetization, an equity sale, and debt financings.”