Station Casinos gets 4th extension on debt plan

Station Casinos Inc. is still negotiating a restructuring plan with bondholders and has extended its deadline for deciding on the plan to next month, the company said Monday.

The Las Vegas-based private casino operator said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its new deadline is July 17.

Station Casinos proposed a prepackaged bankruptcy plan in February to restructure and eliminate about half its $5.7 billion debt load. The company's current proposal asks investors holding $2.3 billion in bonds to swap high-cost debt for low-cost debt and cash so the company can quickly complete a Chapter 11 reorganization.

Station's owners, the Fertitta family and Colony Capital LLC, have said they will invest $244 million in cash into the company if bondholders agree to the restructuring proposal.

Station Casinos has been struggling to pay debt since going private in November 2007. Shareholders agreed to sell the company to the founding Fertitta family and Colony Capital for $90 a share, and the owners assumed $3.4 billion in debt in the buyout.

Since then, casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere have struggled to cope with a recession-linked decline in tourism that hit hard after several years of booming profits.

Station Casinos considers its prime audience Las Vegas residents. It owns 13 casinos there and in two suburbs and owns half of four other casinos in the area.

Under its proposed plan, the company is offering a lower-value combination of cash and new notes to buy back $850 million in senior notes, and a combination to buy back $1.45 billion in subordinated notes at pennies on the dollar.

Station Casinos last month said it lost $33.7 million in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $70.9 million a year earlier. Station's results were lifted partly by a $40.3 million gain related to early debt retirement.

In March, Station turned down an offer from Boyd Gaming Corp. to buy some or all of its assets.

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On the Net:

Station Casinos, Inc.: http://www.stationcasinos.com/