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Caesars Entertainment Corp. has an eye on expanding its Caesars, Harrah’s and Horseshoe brands in the United States and abroad after its casino operating unit emerges from nearly three years of bankruptcy as soon as today with $10 billion less in debt, Reuters reported. Industry analysts said it may be too late to catch up with rivals like MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts Ltd and Las Vegas Sands Corp that have spent years investing in high-growth Asian markets like Macau as U.S. gambling has cooled. Caesars has spent years struggling to manage more than $25 billion in debt, much of it taken on in 2008 when Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital led a leveraged buyout of the company. The operating unit filed for bankruptcy in early 2015. Caesars emerges from chapter 11 with a simplified structure by merging with Caesars Acquisition Corp. and other affiliates, and former creditors will hold a majority of the stock.

Caesars Entertainment Corp canceled an investor webcast yesterday following a deadly mass shooting in U.S. casino hub Las Vegas, but a spokesman said its main operating unit’s emergence from a near three-year bankruptcy was still on track for this week, Reuters reported. Earlier, Caesars said its unit, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. Inc., was set to end a long and costly bankruptcy by Oct. 6 after receiving a series of approvals from gaming authorities and shareholders. The Caesars statement came hours after news that a lone gunman had fatally shot dozens of concertgoers in Las Vegas, where Caesars owns Caesars Palace and the Linq Hotel and Casino. A Caesars spokesman said the company, which owns the Harrah’s, Caesars and Horseshoe brands, would postpone its investor presentation until next week or the following week.

Gaming regulators in Louisiana and Missouri have granted the licenses and regulatory approvals necessary for the restructuring of Caesars Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today. The approvals in those two states were the last major hurdles for Caesars to clear to exit chapter 11 protection. The company expects to be operating under the restructured corporate governance in early October. The company won its final approvals in Nevada in August. Caesars filed for chapter 11 protection in January 2015, and after two years of contentious negotiations among creditors, Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar of the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago approved the company’s bankruptcy plan in January 2017. Company shareholders overwhelmingly approved a merger of Caesars Entertainment in two separate votes in July.

The lender for the shuttered Melrose Resort on Daufuskie Island, S.C., will acquire the failed property after fending off an unexpected last-minute rival bid at a U.S. Bankruptcy Court sale on Wednesday, the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier reported yesterday. A federal judge said that he will approve the ownership transfer to Odeon Singapore Ltd. Affiliated with a Netherlands-based maker of sausage casings, the firm has sunk more than $27.5 million into Melrose. Odeon was able to use that debt to bid on the 420-acre seaside property and take title to it. It set the minimum sale price at $19 million in June and had hoped to sell it to another buyer, said its attorney, Michael Weaver.

A judge has put the company that promoted Fyre Festival in bankruptcy following pressure from disgruntled lenders who hope federal court will in time reveal what happened to money they sunk into the doomed music festival and whether they can get any of it back, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The bankruptcy comes months after Fyre Festival, hyped as a “transformative” cultural event held in the Bahamas with Instagram videos of models riding on boats and jet skis, was abruptly called off. Concertgoers posted photos that went viral on social media showing an unfinished festival ground and bad food. Lawsuits from lenders, ticket holders and vendors followed soon after against those who promoted the event, including William “Billy” McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. Three lenders who loaned $530,000 sought to force Fyre Festival LLC into chapter 7 bankruptcy in July, days after McFarland was arrested and charged with fraud. He was released on bail. On Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in New York ordered the company to prepare documents listing whom it owes money to.

The Nevada Gaming Commission unanimously approved a series of registrations and licensing that will enable the Caesars Entertainment Corp. to clear Nevada’s final regulatory hurdle while in bankruptcy, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today. Caesars has 47 properties worldwide, including nine in Las Vegas. Caesars CEO Mark Frissora, Tim Donovan, the company’s general counsel and compliance officer, and chief financial officer Eric Hession explained a merger of Caesars Entertainment Corp. with Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. and the emerging company’s exit from chapter 11 protection as well as registrations of subsidiary companies and LLCs and the licensing and suitability of several corporate officers, executives and key employees. Under terms of the bankruptcy emergence plan, outlined in an 839-page registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Caesars would separate nearly all of its U.S.-based real estate property assets from its gaming operations. Caesars Entertainment would continue to own and manage the gaming operations and the property assets would be held by a newly created real estate investment trust owned by some creditors.

Liquid Asset Partners is buying the assets of Skip Barber Racing School, a 40-year-old institution whose alumni includes racing drivers Michael Andretti, Danica Patrick, Juan Pablo-Montoya, Bill Elliot, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Petty, MLive.com reported. The school, which filed for chapter 11 protection in late May, will be sold to the Grand Rapids firm for $830,000 under an agreement approved by a New York bankruptcy court on Tuesday, Aug. 8. The school was founded by race car driver Skip Barber in 1975. Barber sold the school and its name in 1999. Based outside Atlanta, the firm operates racing schools, driving schools, racing championships, corporate events and special projects. According to TheDrive.com, the school owed more than $10 million to its creditors while claiming assets worth $5.3 million when it filed for chapter 11. Bill Melvin Jr., owner of Liquid Asset Partners, said he hopes to revive the Skip Barber brand name after selling off most of the school's physical assets, which includes a fleet of race cars and related equipment.

The agency that owns the Westin hotel in Lombard, Ill., is restructuring its debt through a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that will help it pay off $246.6 million owed to bond holders while continuing operations, the Chicago Sun-Times reported today. The bankruptcy filing comes with a $3 million commitment from the village of Lombard to pay back the portion of hotel bonds used to make water main improvements around the hotel site at 70 Yorktown Center before the 500-room facility opened in August 2007. Village officials say that making the payment will help stave off future downgrades to the village’s credit rating, which already has suffered several hits in the six years since Westin ownership began asking for financial help.