Monday, February 9, 2009

Is Aqueduct plan still on track?


From NY1:

State lawmakers say they're concerned about delays in the plans to put a casino at Aqueduct Race Track.

But Delaware North says they'll be breaking ground later this year and be finished with it in 12-14 months.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Watchful Horseman.

Delaware North's original financier, Merrill Lynch, was seen to have a more lenient lending criteria, compared to the JP Morgan Chase's, a major factor seen by many, was their high, company commission/incentive/bonus, structures.

DelNorth, along with a host of other Merrill Lynch clients, have found themselves, right in the firing line. ML's outstanding
(non-toxic) loans, are now being, re-appraised & severely re-structured, by M.L's new owners Bank of America, with additional pressure & oversight, from their new, big brother Creditor, the US Government, who has recently injected massive capital infusions, with understandably, strings attached.

Aqueduct may not be the only DelNorth project, going by the wayside.

BoA are in turn, now attracting, the unwanted attention of, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, whose office is reportedly looking into whether federal bailout loans to BoA were used appropriately, and if shareholders of both companies were given all the necessary information about Merrill's finances.
www.reuters.com/article/americasMergersNews/idUSBNG10766620090203

Andrew Cuomo may also demand, the return of $4 billion in bonuses, paid by Merrill Lynch & Co just before it was acquired by BoA, in that it may have violated New York securities laws and warrant the imposition of fines.
www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE50T11420090130

On top of this, Investors filed a proposed class action against BoA in New York, accusing the bank & its officers of failing to disclose risks in its January 1 takeover of Merrill Lynch Co. http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE50K7KI20090121

No, DelNorth, won't be entertaining at the Aqueduct, nor was it ever likely, since they 'seduced', the winning tender, with magic numbers, to glossy eyed pollies

Anonymous said...

Wow, no wonder nothing's happening. Wasn't it Serf Maltese who was pushing for Delaware North saying they were great in one of his campaign mailers?

Anonymous said...

Language from the MOU conditions sent to all bidders for Aqueduct:

WHEREAS, Vendor (DelNorth in this case) is compromised of an experienced builder and developer of significant projects ("Vendor Development Partner"), an entity with significant experience in the development and operation of large-scale gaming facilities ("Vendor Gaming Partner"), and an entity capable of providing sufficient financing to the extent necessary for completion of the VLT facility and payments to State as provided in this MOU (Vendor Ffinancing Partner.")

Obviously these conditions did NOT apply to DelNorth. Donahue Peebles has never built any gaming establishments, and who the heck is Mason Capital, DelNorth's finacing partner. I'm not so sure this deal was ever really meant to fly?

Anonymous said...

Mason Capital off 70%.
http://www.mffais.com/institutions/124548/

It's hard to imagine why DelNorth chose Mason Capital as a partner?