Owner of East Chicago casino one step closer to sale
By Karen Caffarini Post-Tribune correspondent April 25, 2013 12:34PM
Ameristar casino. | File Sun-Times Media
Updated: April 25, 2013 9:47PM
EAST CHICAGO — The sale of Ameristar Casino Inc. to Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. moved one step closer Thursday when 99.8 percent of stockholders approved the merger plan.
Ameristar has a casino in East Chicago.
Pinnacle agreed in December to acquire Ameristar in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.50 per Ameristar share, or a total of $2.8 billion including assumed debt.
Completion of the transaction remains subject to a required waiting period and regulatory approvals. The two casino companies expect the merger to take place in late summer or early fall.
Ameristar generates more than $1 billion in net revenues annually from its eight casinos.
A ninth Ameristar casino is under construction in Lake Charles, La.
Ameristar East Chicago took in $22.8 million in revenues in March, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission’s monthly revenue report released earlier this month.
Pinnacle owns and operates seven casinos and a racetrack in Ohio.
