Lawsuits filed to block takeover

Friday, Jan. 21, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- Two investors filed lawsuits Thursday in an attempt to block the takeover of Sun International Hotels Ltd. by a group led by the company's chairman.

Sun International Investments Ltd., led by Sun Chairman and Chief Executive Solomon Kerzner, has offered to buy the 47 percent of the company it doesn't control for $24 per share, or $379 million. Sun International is buying the Desert Inn hotel-casino on the Strip.

The lawsuits, filed by New York investor Edward Aboff and Michelle Perna of San Francisco in New York State Supreme Court, seek class-action status on behalf of all shareholders. The lawsuits were filed separately.

Aboff's suit called Kerzner's offer "grossly inadequate because the intrinsic value of the stock is materially in excess of $24 a share."

Kerzner's group said Thursday it would not consider selling the company to another bidder.

Based in the Bahamas, Sun International owns and operates nine hotels and three casinos, including the Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, the Resorts hotel-casino in Atlantic City, the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and luxury resorts in the Indian Ocean.