Golden Entertainment To Pay $850 Million To Buy American Casino & Entertainment

Golden Entertainment Inc. said Monday it will buy American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC for $850 million. Under terms of the deal, Golden Entertainment will pay $781 million in cash and and four million Golden Entertainment shares to American Casino's current owner, private-equity fund Whitehall Street Real Estate Partners 2007. American Casino operates three properties in Las Vegas and a property in Laughlin, Nev. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2017. "This transaction significantly increases the size of our operations and allows us to access the capital markets more efficiently while enhancing our ability to further expand our leading presence in distributed gaming," said Chief Financial Officer Charles Protell. The stock, which was been halted for news until 7:30 a.m. ET, has soared 40% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 8.6%.