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 Spurned by bond holders who rejected his effort to buy Trump
Entertainment Resorts, the real estate mogul and his daughter Ivanka
are resigning from its board of directors.
He called the troubled casino company he once controlled "worthless
to me now." He is the largest shareholder, owning more than a
quarter of its stock, yet stressed that it comprises "substantially
less than 1 percent of my net worth."
The company won a fourth extension Wednesday on restructuring $1.25
billion in debt, and some analysts have predicted it will file for
bankruptcy protection for a third time if it doesn't work out a deal
with its bond holders.
"If I'm not going to run it, I don't want to be involved in it,"
Trump told The Associated Press Friday night. "I'm one of the
largest developers in the world. I have a lot of cash and plenty of
places I can go."
Trump said he recently offered to buy the company, which he used to
control before relinquishing his grip as part of a bankruptcy
restructuring.
For now, his name will remain on the company's three Atlantic City
casinos, although Trump said he may seek legal avenues to removing
his name from the business.
"I don't like that my name is still going to be on it," he said.
He also said he wants to sell his shares in the company, although it
was not clear when that might happen, or whether he would even be
able to under securities laws if he possesses information about the
company that is not publicly known.
The company would not identify the bond holders or who represents
them.
Trump said allies of the bond holders have a 5-to-3 edge on the
board of Trump Entertainment Resorts, leading him to believe he was
not likely to prevail any time soon in talks on the company's future
direction.
The company skipped a $53.1 million biannual payment due bond
holders last Dec. 1. That triggered talks on restructuring the debt,
which have been extended four times. The next deadline is Tuesday.
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Mark Juliano, the company's chief executive, said talks are ongoing,
adding he expects them to continue through Tuesday. He declined to
respond to Trump's criticism of the way the company has been
managed.
"While The Trump Organization grows and flourishes, Trump
Entertainment Resorts, of which I am a stockholder, has languished,"
Trump said. "The Trump Organization's portfolio of residential,
commercial, hotel, and golf properties has expanded all over the
world, while Trump Entertainment Resorts has yet to diversify
outside of Atlantic City.
"I have watched the collapse in enterprise value of the Atlantic
City Tropicana, where bondholders' values have been reduced to
almost nothing," he continued. "I do not want to take part in a
similar fiasco here."
The Tropicana Casino and Resort has been run by a state-appointed
trustee for 14 months after its former owners were stripped of their
casino license. It is due to be sold soon at a bankruptcy auction,
but creditors may try to block such a sale, fearing it wouldn't
fetch enough of a price to pay them back much.
Trump Entertainment owns three Atlantic City casinos but is in the
process of selling one, Trump Marina Hotel Casino, to a former
protege of Donald Trump. Its other properties are the Trump Taj
Mahal Casino Resort, and Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
[Associated
Press; By WAYNE
PARRY]
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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