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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

More Dully

Maryland governor Martin O'Malley signed over 150 bills into law on Tuesday, but the one dealing with the Preakness made it into all of the headlines. So who says nobody cares about racing?

- Empire Resorts, the struggling owner of the struggling Monticello racino, has announced the "immediate resignation" of its CEO and CFO and the relocation of their offices from Las Vegas to New York. It can't be a good sign that the company will now be headed by its Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO?) - Eric Reehl, who was recently hired to negotiate with its creditors. According to Empire's K-8 filing (thanks to reader Chris): Reehl will serve as Chief Restructuring Officer and will, on an expedited basis, address the issues facing the Company, including the recapitalization of the Company, as more dully described below. And it's true, doesn't get more dully than this stuff.

The company's financials read like a poor man's Magna. So to speak.

Securities and Exchange Commission filings show Empire lost $12.16 million in 2008 on revenue of $67.2 million vs. a 2007 loss of $26.2 million on revenue of $75.7 million. Its auditors last month expressed doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern because of a $7.15 million bank loan payment due May 29 and concerns that holders of notes totaling $65 million can demand payment in July. [Las Vegas Sun]
- Rap Tale is 8-1 in the Illiterate Stakes; the 8th on Wednesday. Reader Jason says she needs a Passover miracle, but she's not Jewish as far as I know.

9 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't Eric Reehl come from Plainfield Asset Management, one of the companies involved with financing a bid for Aqueduct? Perhpas by sending Reehl over to Empire Resorts, Plainfield then plans to take over the company? Just speculating and connecting the dots.

What is the latest "skinny" on the Aqueduct debacle anyhow? What groups are in the running this go round?

steve in nc said...

Tell Brown to mix a little matzoh farfel and Manischewitz wine into the limited pre-race feed this morning and she'll be all set. This is, by the way, the best use possible for Manischewitz.

Alan Mann said...

Anon - Good catch on Reehl:

>>Prior to the formation of Nima, Mr. Reehl served as a Managing Director of Plainfield Asset Management LLC, a registered investment adviser, from March 2006 until September 2008. Prior to joining Plainfield Asset Management LLC, he led the New York office of the Direct Lending group of CSG Investments, Inc, the investment affiliate for Beal Bank, a privately held Texas state savings bank, from April 2004 until March 2006. Prior to CGS Investments, Mr. Reehl was a Bankruptcy and Restructuring advisor with Ernst and Young Corporate Finance LLC. Mr. Reehl is 45 years old.


Nothing new that I've seen on the Aqueduct mess....I imagine that we'll be hearing something soon now that the budget process is done for now.

Anonymous said...

Alan ,Rap Tale brief factor, beat one horse. when will whomever is making those bad decisions WAKE up, there is a reason you got her for $25,000 nice hosre put in bad spots.

Alan Mann said...

>>there is a reason you got her for $25,000 nice hosre put in bad spots.

Respectfully disagree. She's a pretty slow horse who was put in enough nice spots to earn us a decent amount of money. Unfortunately, the options are few right now other than claimers, which are not presently an option.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Plainfield Asset Management control some of the debt on Jeff Gural's Tioga Downs? They seem to have a liking for lending or equity in this space.

Hard to believe that the NYRA isn't crying out about the lack of progress with the next round of Aqueduct bids? Whatever happened to Charlie's "it's costing the state $1 million a day" song that he used to sing? To me, it's almost like the NYRA must be quite comfortable with whatever the state intends to do next.

Anonymous said...

i don't understand why people keep commenting on rap tale about her placement, if you want to run her some where that makes no sense (not saying that it does or doesn't)it is your horse, you guys pay the bills

Anonymous said...

Rap Tale belongs running at Penn N. or perhaps the hollywood dog track in Florida. I know of a good spot for her at the dog track coming up soon.

mike said...

Hey Alan:

Time for a reality check:
Rap Tale is a nice race mare with a nice pedigree.
She is not worth what you think either as a racehorse or broodmare. Just try and sell her "as is" and see what you are offered. She is only worth what you can get, and believe me, its not more than the $25,000 you bought her for.
Run her where she belongs as you are breaking her heart with each start right now, breed her if you think she is going to be the great broodmare you dream she is or sell her for the whatever you can get.
Maybe her original owners will take her back.