The latest competition, however, is not on the ice. Marian Ilitch, whose family owns the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit Tigers and the Little Caesars pizza chain, has offered Mandalay Resort Group $525 million for its 53.3% stake in MotorCity Casino here. On Tuesday, Peter Karmanos Jr., chairman and chief executive of locally based Compuware Corp. and owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, entered a $563-million bid for the Mandalay stake with a partner.
Ilitch already owns 25% of MotorCity Casino and her spokesman says she has signed a deal to buy out the 21.5% stake held by other minority investors. The Detroit casino must be sold because of a pending $7.9-billion merger between gaming giants MGM Mirage and Mandalay Resort Group. MGM already owns the MGM Grand Casino in Detroit and Michigan law requires separate ownership of the three Detroit casinos.
MGM Mirage has said it wants the merger with Mandalay to be completed by March 31. But before that can happen, either MotorCity or MGM Grand Detroit--owned by MGM Mirage--would need to be sold. Any sale would have to be approved by the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
A sale to Ilitch likely could be approved quickly because she already is licensed by the board. Karmanos is not licensed and overcoming that hurdle in the past has taken six to 18 months.
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