In reference to the parcel sale, Pitoniak commented last month that it monetized a portion of the REIT's undeveloped land portfolio “in a way that potentially enables us to add high-value rent income in the future. Once the financing of these transactions is executed, we will be in a position to demonstrate the net effect on our leverage, accretion and overall cost of capital.”

The credit facilities announced this past Friday included a five-year, $400-million senior secured revolving credit facility and a seven-year, $2.2-billion first lien senior secured term loan. Simultaneously, VICI also closed on a private placement of common stock at $18.50 per share for net proceeds of approximately $964 million.

Taken together, the equity raise and credit facilities will partially fund the Harrah's acquisition and will be used to refinance VICI's $1.638-billion existing first lien term loan, redeem in full the REIT's $312 million aggregate principal amount of first priority senior secured floating rate notes due 2022 and repurchase $400 million aggregate principal amount of mezzanine debt. “By capitalizing on attractive credit markets for our high quality real estate, we strengthened our balance sheet, lowered our cost of financing and are well positioned to continue to execute on our long-term strategic goals,” says CFO Mary Beth Higgins.

The joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners for the credit facilities were Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Bank PLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. Co-arrangers for the credit facilities were Citizens Bank, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities and UBS Securities LLC. Goldman Sachs Bank USA serves as administrative agent. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP acted as VICI's legal advisor.