Ferris wheel company goes public

Wednesday, April 10, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

A Las Vegas company attempting to build the world's largest ferris wheel on the Strip announced Tuesday that it has taken the company public, and is attempting to sell $100 million in bonds to finance the project.

Voyager Entertainment International Inc., the new name of Outland Development LLC, is offering the senior notes through Stone Harbor Financial Services, a New Jersey firm.

Voyager did not go public through an initial public offering of stock, but by a merger with a publicly traded "shell" corporation. Richard Hannigan, president of Voyager, declined to name the merger partner company.

"It offers us the opportunity, as the stock moves along, to issue our own stock to fund additional wheels," Hannigan said. Hannigan said the company is in talks to acquire parcels in New York and Shanghai to build similar rides.

The stock trades over-the-counter, and closed Tuesday at $8.25. Only 300 shares traded on the first day.

Voyager and its predecessor company have proposed construction of a 560-foot high observation wheel on the Strip. Passengers would ride in 35 enclosed, air-conditioned observation booths, with a ticket price of $18. The company said it is in the "final stages of design and development" of the ride, and Hannigan said the $100 million from the bond offering would be sufficient to build the project.

At this point, the company is only willing to identify the site of the project as "between the MGM Grand and Bellagio," though Hannigan said a land deal could be finalized within a week. Once land is acquired, construction would take about 18 months, he said.

Still in the picture is a 2-acre parcel just south of the Aladdin on Harmon Avenue, now owned by Clark County. Voyager tried to buy this land from the county last year, but the county opted instead to begin negotiating with Algiers Hotel owner Larry Kifer to swap the parcel for the north Strip land where the Algiers now sits. Kifer's attorneys have indicated Kifer would probably lease the Harmon parcel to another company.

"There are several sites we are looking at, and that (the Harmon parcel) is one of them," Hannigan said. "We now have to make a decision on the exact location."