American Casino Closes on $126M Acquisition

LAS VEGAS-American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC has closed on the acquisition of two suburban casino-hotels here from billionaire Carl Icahn. The properties are Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and Arizona Charlie’s Boulder. The sale price was $125.9 million.American Casino is a subsidiary of publicly traded American Real Estate Partners of Mount Kisco, NY. Icahn is chairman of AREP’s general partner American Property Investors.In a related transaction, another AREP subsidiary, American Real Estate Holdings LP, transferred 100% of the common stock of the well-known Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower to American Casino. As a result, American Casino now owns and operated three gaming and entertainment properties in metropolitan Las Vegas.To effect the Arizona Charlie’s acquisitions, the net proceeds of American Casino’s previously announced $215-million offering of senior secured notes due 2012 were released from escrow and used to pay the acquisition purchase price and to repay certain indebtedness of Stratosphere Corp. to AREH. Arizona Charlie’s Decatur is located on approximately 17 acres of land, four miles west of the Las Vegas strip. It contains approximately 52,000 sf of gaming space, 258 hotel rooms, four restaurants and three bars. For the three months ended March 31, 2004 and 2003, Arizona Charlie’s Decatur’s revenues were approximately $19.2 million and $17.3 million, respectively. Arizona Charlie’s Boulder is located on approximately 24 acres of land, seven miles east of the Las Vegas strip. It contains approximately 41,000 sf of gaming space, 303 hotel rooms, four restaurants and a 202-space RV park. For the three months ended March 31, 2004 and 2003 Arizona Charlie’s Boulder’s revenues were approximately $10.1 million and $7.8 million, respectively. The Stratosphere is situated on approximately 31 acres of land at the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip. It features the tallest free-standing observation tower in the United States and three of the most visible amusement rides in town. The facility has approximately 80,000 sf of gaming space, 2,444 hotel rooms, eight restaurants and approximately 110,000 sf of developed retail space.