Trump Hotels’ talks with Credit Suisse investment unit end

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 | 9:19 a.m.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Donald Trump's Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. said it has ended talks with a Credit Suisse First Boston investment unit, which had planned to invest $400 million in Trump Hotels and become the majority shareholder.

Trump Hotels is now pursuing other ways to restructure the company's approximately $1.8 billion in debt, according to a statement distributed by Business Wire. Chairman and Chief Executive Donald Trump is considering privatizing the company, Atlantic City, N.J.-based Trump Hotels said in the statement.

Trump first announced plans to restructure the debt with Credit Suisse's DLJ Merchant Banking Partners III LP in February. Trump Hotels, which has fallen behind its competitors in Atlantic City, has reported annual net losses each year since its initial public offering in 1995 and needs the restructuring to cut interest costs and free up money to spend on casinos.

The company said in August it would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of the agreement and cut its debt by $544 million. Bond investors holding $425 million of the company's debt earlier this month requested better terms than the 95.6 cents on the dollar the company offered, according to investors who did not want to be named.

Auditor Ernst & Young earlier this year raised doubts about the company's ability to survive because of its debt level. Trump Hotels owns the Trump Plaza, Taj Mahal and Marina in Atlantic City and a riverboat casino in Indiana, and it manages an American Indian casino in California.