Caesars Entertainment, its bankrupt unit trying desperately to win the support of creditors for a plan of reorganization, is in the running for a Toronto casino project that would fuel growth, The Post has learned.
Word that the country’s No. 1 casino operator is among a half-dozen bidders for the entertainment complex could persuade Caesars’ creditors to support the plan, which gives them an equity stake in the bankrupt company’s parent.
Some creditors are pushing Caesars Entertainment to pony up cash to help fund a more generous payout under the plan.
The parent company is fighting that plan — which could cost its private equity owners — Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital — about $2 billion.
Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. — the bankrupt unit — is telling those creditors: Accept a smaller payout with a chance to participate in the recovery with a stake in an improving parent.
As a key date in that creditor battle approaches, the parent company’s push in Toronto could affect the outcome.
Toronto voted in July 2015 to approve a casino with live table games if it included an entertainment complex. At least two development sites in the city are under consideration.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. expects to announce a winner late next summer, it said.
The Genting Group, which runs Resorts World in the Aqueduct complex, is also interested, a source said.
Caesars has been looking for a big new development since losing out on a Boston project, sources said. A Toronto casino that would be the biggest in Canada could mean hundreds of millions of annual profit.
Toronto venture capitalist Graeme Roustan, who has been working for years to bring a second NHL team to the Toronto market, has been meeting with casino operators about partnering on his adjoining arena, sources said.
Roustan’s plan, one of about six, would have a casino operator bankrolling much of the cost of his arena, sources said.
Separately, CEOC hopes to convince a bankruptcy court judge on Aug. 23 to keep frozen creditor lawsuits seeking to grab billions from the parent company.
The suits, if unfrozen and successfully litigated, could pull the parent into Chapter 11.
The judge, Benjamin Goldgar, on Wednesday said that, before extending the freeze, he would like to see Apollo and TPG contribute to CEOC’s plan, one person at the hearing told The Post.
Roustan and Caesars declined comment. Genting did not return calls.
Shares of the non-bankrupt parent slipped 1 cent on Thursday, to $7.75. They are down 1.8 percent this year.
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