Sale hearing delayed again

Friday, July 13, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

A court hearing to approve plans to sell the bankrupt Regent Las Vegas was delayed Thursday, after Regent attorneys asked for more time to develop a sale plan. The hearing will now be held Aug. 9.

The delay came as a result of the sudden break-up earlier this month of the preferred group bidding on the Regent. Peccole Nevada Corp., Heller Financial Inc. of Chicago and PDS Gaming Corp. had submitted a $150 million bid for the property, but Peccole withdrew from the group July 1 after disagreeing with the deal's structure.

Since that time, Regent attorney Frank Merola said the property has received "numerous offers," and said the Regent is consulting with creditors on which bid to select. Merola said this is a complex process, as each bid is structured differently.

"We're trying to pick the one that's easiest to overbid (by other would-be buyers of the property)," Merola said. "You can't have people bidding on different baskets of assets, and that's the problem right now."

Heller and PDS have already expressed interest in becoming the new preferred, or "stalking horse," bidder. Peccole also remains interested, Merola said, and may still enter back into a consortium with Heller.

The delay will push the final sale of the property into September, but Regent officials say this should not endanger the ability of the property to remain open while the bankruptcy case is completed. The property is being funded during the process with a $20 million loan from some of its creditors.

"We're pretty comfortable with our progress to date relative to our projections," said Lanis O'Steen, Regent chief restructuring officer. "We expect to operate the property through the end of this process."

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