LV casino company offering shares

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

Ameristar Casinos Inc., which operates six casinos in four states, filed for a sale of 6 million shares, including 2 million by its controlling shareholder and chairman, Craig Neilsen.

The Las Vegas-based company plans to sell 4 million of the shares, according to its stock-sale filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such a sale would reap about $76 million at latest prices.

Ameristar shares have more than tripled this year and rose 4 cents to $19.05 in early trading today.

"We intend to use the net proceeds we receive from this offering to repay our term loans under our senior credit facilities," Ameristar said in the SEC filing.

Neilsen, who is also chief executive officer, could expect to reap about $38 million from his portion of the offering at latest prices. The sale would cut his stake to 15.7 million shares, or 63 percent, from 17.7 million shares or 85 percent.

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