Agassi, others invest in downtown deal

Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

The company that is buying the Golden Nugget has obtained three new equity partners.

Soon after the deal was announced, tennis star and Las Vegas resident Andre Agassi, former International Game Technology Chairman Chuck Mathewson and former Expedia executive Rich Barton contacted Golden Nugget buyers Tim Poster and Tom Breitling about investing in the $215 million deal.

Poster and Breitling recently completed a $155 million bond offering.

Each invested $18.75 million for a 37.5 percent stake in the Golden Nugget. Agassi and Mathewson each invested $5 million for a 10 percent stake. Barton invested $2.5 million for a 5 percent stake.

"We had no intention to bring in additional equity partners unless they were people who would bring a lot to the table," Breitling said. "We think we've established a team that's the best of the best."

"They believe in Tim and I and in what we're trying to do to bring back personality and apply it to the business," he said.

Poster and Breitling sit on the board of the Andre Agassi Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas and are partners with Agassi in a Las Vegas restaurant with slot machines.

Agassi has "tremendous marketing ability" and will lend a credible name to an already-strong brand, Breitling said.

Mathewson is a gaming pioneer who knows what makes casinos tick, he said.

Barton "changed the travel industry" by applying technology and can help the Golden Nugget use technology to its advantage, he said.

Poster and Breitling anticipate receiving regulatory approval to run the Golden Nugget in January, after which they expect their equity partners to become licensed.