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Gold Reef Agrees to Ethos Private Equity $1.6 billion Buyout Offer

On September 4th, 2007, Ethos Private Equity, a private consortium that includes Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated as one of its investors commented that casino operator Gold Reef Resorts Limited has given its consent to a $1.6 billion buyout deal.

The Ethos Private Equity Group also includes the management of Gold Reef and shareholders which has a 10% and 25% shares respectively. One of the main financers for the Gold Reef buyout is Goldman Sachs and Nedbank Corporate.

The Gold Reef transaction is one of the only few buyouts to be finalize since the credit market became very unpredictable. Some companies have either shelved or scrapped altogether while some deals have left bank who are unable to provide adequate financing.

The Gold Reef resorts limited buyout was the second biggest deal in South Africa aside from the Bain Capital's buyout of Edgars Consolidated Stores Limited or Edcon on April 2007. Gold Reef manages the Gold Reef City Casino and Theme park in Johannesburg, South Africa and is currently building the Silverstar Casino on West Rand in Gauteng Province.

Under the new management, the company's initial plans will be to complete the Silverstar Casino, according to the Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Colin Coleman.

The Silverstar casino is scheduled to open on 2008 and will feature 700 slot machines and thirty casino table games. There will be also a hotel, restaurants, convention and entertainment facilities.

The company also manages the Golden Horse casino in Pietermaritzburg, the Garden Route Casino facility, the Mykonos Casino at Langebaan, the Goldfields Casino facility and they also have a share in the Queenstown Casino facility, which is still under construction. The buyout deal is still pending approval from the Provincial Gambling Boards and the Competition Commission.

 

10/10/2007 03:30 PM
Ann Pettersson