Investor may boost stake in Aladdin

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

London Clubs International may boost its 25 percent stake in Aladdin Gaming to 40 percent under a new partnership agreement.

London Clubs Chairman Alan Goodenough told a British newspaper the company has opted to convert $30 million of its loan to the Sommer Trust, its joint venture partner in the Aladdin, into convertible preferred stock.

"They have received a special class of preferred stock that they can convert into 15 percentage points of ownership," Aladdin Gaming President Richard Goeglein said today. "If they exercise the option, which expires at the end of March, they would own 40 percent and the Sommer Trust 60 percent."

The Sommer Trust is controlled by real estate developer Jack Sommer.

Goodenough told the Daily Telegraph London Clubs considers the Aladdin project "a very big opportunity for us."

He said the $1.2 billion Aladdin hotel-casino complex, which is expected to open next August on the Las Vegas Strip, could earn London Clubs an extra $16 million in profits by 2001.

London Clubs operates two casinos in the British capital city and saw profits slip 10 percent for the six months through October. The company sold its casino in Cannes last year.