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Bally’s Chicago casino raised $5.5 million in a long-awaited stock offering yesterday. The company also raised $25.6 million from private investors at the same prices as the IPO, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Together, the two stock sales are far short of the $250 million Bally’s intends to raise while providing minorities a significant ownership stake. Bally’s says the IPO is the first of a series of offerings it plans.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Congrates to a certain modest person we may know fighting illegal discriminatory Bally Bonds deal!!!: The provision for 25% ownership by minority individuals or businesses has been a challenge. Two white men from the conservative legal group American Alliance for Equal Rights sued Bally’s and the city to stop the IPO, claiming their civil rights were being violated. Bally’s settled the suit in June but didn’t disclose terms. Further, what is connection between City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervins involvement in Bally Bonds deal her, $75 mill Chicago Community Catalyst Fund primarily for black business development and if you go on her… Read more »
Who? Richard Fisher or Philip Aronoff? How do you know they are modest?
PPF – I am not sure modesty is relevant to the substance of matter. You yourself have a stellar education having graduated from some of the best schools in the nation, but still substance matters.
Actually, I am very disappointed that the press hasn’t covered the more important aspect of the story, which was my primary motivation for suing. It’s that the deal is dogshit, IMO — that they attempted to foist on unsophisticated investors while claiming be doing them a special favor. See https://wirepoints.org/the-real-scandal-in-ballys-chicago-deal-exploiting-minorities-while-pretending-to-help-wirepoints/
Highway robbery. They are looking for suckers to buy the stock.