Mandalay rejects MGM Mirage bid
(CNN) -- Las Vegas-based casino operator Mandalay Resort Group has turned down a $4.85 billion takeover from MGM Mirage that would have created the world's largest casino company.
Mandalay, which runs the Mandalay Bay, Luxor and nine other casinos in the U.S. state of Nevada, said there was not enough assurance from MGM Mirage that it would continue with the deal if regulators opposed it.
MGM Mirage, which is controlled by 87-year-old billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, last week offered to buy Mandalay for $68 a share plus assumed debt of $2.8 billion.
"The terms of the MGM Mirage proposal asked Mandalay shareholders to bear a far disproportionate share of the risk. It is not in the best interest of Mandalay shareholders to agree to a deal that gives MGM control over whether it closes," Glenn Schaeffer, president and chief financial officer of Mandalay Resort Group, said in a statement Friday.
MGM Mirage, the No. 3 U.S. casino company, owns or operates 12 casinos in Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi, Michigan and Australia. It also has stakes in two other resorts in Nevada and New Jersey, and 25 percent of British casino developer Metro Casinos.
Along with its Nevada casinos, Mandalay owns another in Mississippi and has stakes in four joint venture casinos.
