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Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc (BALY -0.29%)
Q1 2020 Earnings Call
May 13, 2020, 8:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc. First Quarter Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]
I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker for today, Craig Eaton, Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Please go ahead, Mr. Eaton.
Craig Eaton -- Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Compliance Officer
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. I hope that each of you, your family, friends, and colleagues are safe and staying healthy.
By now, you should have received a copy of our Q1 2020 earnings release issued earlier this morning. If you haven't, the earnings release and presentation that accompanies this call are available in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.twinriverwwholdings.com under the News and Events & Presentations tabs.
With me on today's call are George Papanier, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Steve Capp, our Chief Financial Officer; Marc Crisafulli, our Executive Vice President and President of Twin River Rhode Island; Jay Minas, our VP of Finance; and Joe McGrail, our Chief Accounting Officer.
Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that comments made by management will contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include plans, expectations, estimates and projections that involve significant risks and uncertainties. These risks are discussed in the company's earnings release and SEC filings. Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in these forward-looking statements.
During today's call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the schedules contained in our earnings release or the presentation that accompanies this call.
I will now turn the call over to George.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Craig. Good morning, everyone. I hope that everyone is staying safe during these unprecedented times. Appreciate everyone joining us. These trying times remind us how sacred life, family and friendships are, and we would like to thank all of the frontline workers for their hard work and bravery every day in fighting this battle.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we announced and have executed on a multifaceted response, which have been outlined over the last several weeks through our press releases, including this morning's earnings release.
We will have more on our response in a few minutes. However, this is our first public opportunity to discuss some exciting new developments and our ongoing corporate strategy. So, I want to start there.
About two-and-a-half weeks ago, we announced our intention to acquire the Eldorado Shreveport Resort in Louisiana and the MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa in Lake Tahoe, Nevada from Eldorado, as well as an agreement to acquire Bally's Atlantic City from Caesars and VICI Properties. These transactions are expected to be immediately accretive to earnings. We are extremely excited about the prospect for future growth from these three properties.
These acquisitions represent a unique opportunity to continue executing on our expansion and diversification strategy and attractive markets and even more attractive valuation multiples.
As we have stated before, our disciplined approach to M&A, strong balance sheet and low leverage compared to others in the industry, as well as our proven track record of successfully integrating new properties and to effectively compete, position us well to take advantage of opportunities as they arise, and these acquisitions are a perfect example.
Starting with the Eldorado transaction. The company will acquire Shreveport's operations and real estate and MontBleu's operations, $155 million purchase price for these two properties includes a $15 million deferred cash payment, bearing no interest, payable one-year after closing. This purchase price on a combined basis represents an implied trailing 12-month pro forma EBITDA multiple of approximately 4.1 times, excluding any potential impact from costs and revenue synergies.
We also entered into an amended agreement with MontBleu's landlord, including the extension of the lease term to the end of 2035 with options to extend through 2060.
Shreveport is a top-tier property in Shreveport & Bossier City market with a lot of characteristics of our Hard Rock Biloxi property, where we have had considerable success. MontBleu is a beautiful resort property and recently went through a major renovation.
We're looking forward to offering an experience there as a great reward destination for customers throughout our portfolio.
The company's proposed acquisition of these two properties is subject to FTC and state and local regulatory approvals and is conditioned upon the completion of the merger of Eldorado and Caesars. The acquisition has been subject to a financing condition. However, that was satisfied this past Monday, when we closed on our new debt financing of $275 million, which Steve will cover in a few minutes.
Turning to the Bally's acquisition. The purchase price of $25 million represents an implied trailing 12-month EBITDA multiple of approximately 2.1 times, excluding any potential impact from cost and revenue synergies. The agreement with Caesars and VICI's structured as an asset purchase covering certain assets of Bally's and the property on which they are operated. Part of this acquisition, we will also acquire the license to build out a Sportsbook and launch online sports betting and iGaming, which we believe will provide nice upside with existing cash flows from the property.
Our executive team collectively has had many years of experience in that market and we believe our current model fits very well there. Being able to acquire Bally's with its center of the Boardwalk location was also incredibly attractive to us.
We note that all three of these assets have been well maintained and do not require any material deferred maintenance capex or any short-term significant capital investment. But we do expect to refurbish 700 or so of the rooms at Bally's, which will be phased over a three-year period and is not expected to require significant capital investment too.
Along with our previously announced acquisitions of Kansas City and Vicksburg, we believe that the addition of these five contracted properties will meaningfully enhance our financial profile while strengthening our presence in a number of key geographic markets.
We see significant opportunities to create cross-marketing for customers of multiple Twin River locations. We believe all of these assets are a great fit for our portfolio and are eager to apply our proven operating and integration approach to drive incremental revenues and cash flows.
We're currently working diligently through the regulatory process, including obtaining the required approvals from the FTC in respect to the state jurisdictions. And note that Kansas City and Vicksburg acquisitions remain on-track to close in Q2, 2020, pending Missouri regulatory approval. And we expect the Bally's acquisition will close in late 2020, and Shreveport and MontBleu are likely to close in the first half of 2021.
We're currently on the agenda for the next Gaming Commission meeting in Missouri later this month and expect to close on that transaction soon after. I'm extremely excited about our M&A successes and what they will mean for the company going forward. Within the next 12-months, we will be operating five additional properties, which we collectively acquired at five times.
I'll now turn it over to Steve to provide an update on our recent financing liquidity, Steve?
Stephen H. Capp -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, George. As George mentioned, this past Monday we closed on our new $275 million Term Loan B. That financing satisfied the financing contingency under Twin Rivers' previously announced agreement to acquire the Shreveport and MontBleu assets from Eldorado Resorts.
As the regulatory approval process for these transactions will take some time, the company did repay all $250 million of revolving credit borrowings under the bank credit facility. However, that revolver will be available for future borrowings in accordance with the credit agreement. Borrowings under the increased terminal facility will bear interest at LIBOR plus 8% per annum through the 2026 maturity date.
Let me make a couple of comments about the covenant amendment that we successfully executed very recently. First of all, we were in compliance with our leverage covenant through the March 31, 2020 quarter. Nonetheless, on April 24, and prior to the new financing, we also announced that we had worked with our lenders to amend the financial covenants -- the financial covenant, I should say -- and certain other terms of the company's bank credit facility to provide financial covenant relief from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company need no longer comply with the maximum total net leverage ratio covenant applicable under the bank credit facility, but instead must comply with a minimum liquidity covenant measured at the last day of each month during the relief period. In essence, the company will be required to have unrestricted cash on hand at the end of each month in the following amounts. We need $75 million of liquidity at April 30, which we had $55 million at the end of June, $55 million at the end of July, and $50 million even at the end of each month thereafter through the covenant relief period, which is March 31 of 2021.
Following the leverage ratio covenant relief period, leverage ratio, which is essentially net debt divided by trailing 12-month LTM EBITDA, is 6.25 for that quarter of March 31, 2021; six times at June 30 of that year; 5.75 as of September and then 5.5 as of December 31, 2021; and 5 times thereafter, which brings it back into conformance with the original terms of the credit agreement.
And by the way, in that -- in those calculations, there is a calendarization effect, if you will, a pro rata effect on most recent cash flows, which will be annualized for purposes of that measurement. So, it's a very commonsensical amendment for us, we believe.
The applicable interest rate on credit facility borrowings will be LIBOR plus $275 million for the entirety of the leverage ratio covenant period through March 31 of 2021.
Let me turn to cash balances, liquidity and our expense burn rate. Cash on balance sheet at the end of March 31, 2020 was $361 million. Pro forma for the addition of the $275 million financing, concurrent repayment of the full $250 million balance on our revolver and factoring in the fees and expenses, we had cash of more than $370 million, together with the availability of the $250 million under the revolver for total liquidity of more than $620 million, and we have no substantial debt maturities before 2024.
Even pro forma for the effect of all five of the contracted acquisitions, our liquidity, including availability under the revolver is in excess of $210 million.
As George will discuss in a few minutes, we have taken steps to manage our expenses. We have used the March-April period to both position to reopen and prepare for the possibility of a lockdown mode of reducing costs to the bare minimum.
If the situation dictates that we move to lockdown or phase-two, as we refer to it, perhaps in the June or July time frame, assuming we do not see a path toward opening on the horizon, we expect to reduce our monthly opex cash burn rate to approximately $3 million. And that will position us to endure a prolonged shutdown given our current liquidity position in excess of 18 months, including funding all five acquisitions and debt service costs.
Based on our current cash requirements and ability to endure a phase-two extended shut down scenario, our cash balances provide us sufficient resources during these challenging times.
In terms of capex, all major capital projects have been suspended and we have greatly reduced our expected capex spend for the remainder of the year depending on the timing of our facilities reopening. We are definitely still committed to moving forward with our proposed capex at Kansas City for approximately $40 million, as we think the project there will greatly enhance the property and guest experience to drive growth and a very nice return on investment. However, with the timing of the close and the need for required approvals, this capex spend is largely a 2021 event.
We also have talked about capex related to the proposed VLT contract and joint venture with IGT, which would include an expansion to our flagship property in Lincoln. Mark will provide an update regarding this in a few minutes, but again that is subject to the legislation being approved.
On taxes, we expect there are certain aspects of the CARES Act we will be able to benefit from. These include but are not limited to the utilization of NOL carrybacks, as well as some additional interest reductions. We think these, combined with refunds owed, could result in positive cash flow of as much as $15 million or $20 million, perhaps even somewhat more in the next year or so.
On the subject of our return of capital program, under the program, we purchased approximately 1.6 million shares for a total investment of about $30 million during the quarter, which is just under $19 per share. As a result, our current shares outstanding are 30.4 million, which has reduced from a total of approximately 41.1 million shares when we went public in March of 2019. That's down a full 26%.
Since those repurchases and as a condition of the amendment we signed to our credit facility, we have halted spending under our capital return program, including share repurchases and the payment of a quarterly dividend.
On the subject of guidance; as we noted in our release this morning, given the uncertain impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are withdrawing our 2020 full year guidance provided on March 3, 2020, and will not be providing further guidance at this time.
But I'll finish in reiterating comments by George earlier. Within the next 12 months, we'll be operating five properties not previously reflected in our historical financial results. Remember, we're acquiring all five of these for an average purchase multiple of approximately five times, which reflects the most recent three acquisitions at a purchase multiple of 3.6 times, which actually is both highly accretive and deleveraging simultaneously. So, we're very excited about the future prospects of the company.
With that, George, I'll turn it back to you.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Steve. So, turning our attention back to the quarter, while the mandated closure of our properties was a necessary part of a broader effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, the impact to our company, our team members and our communities have been impactful. Before the pandemic began in March, our company was on-track to report strong first quarter results, opening the year with two consecutive months of solid year-over-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth across all but one of our properties, the level of which exceeded our internal expectations.
Through February, overall revenues for the company were up $17.1 million or 23% and adjusted EBITDA was up $2 million or 8% compared to the same period in 2019.
This included a strong start to the year at Biloxi, which saw revenue and adjusted EBITDA increases of 13% and 35% in the first two months of the year respectively, as well as Tiverton with increases of 15% and 66% year-over-year respectively, which continued to ramp and showed market resilience in the face of competition. Finally, Dover contributed $17.3 million of revenue and $3.8 million of adjusted EBITDA in the first two months, a continuation of the success story there.
We also closed on our acquisition of Mardi Gras, Golden Gates, and Golden Gulch Casinos and Black Hawk in late January. These transactions were immediately accretive to generating positive EBITDA in February, in line with our expectations. And we integrated those properties in the first month of operations.
In addition, on May 1, sports betting, included online and mobile went live in Colorado and through our announced partnership with DraftKings and FanDuel. We're excited about the opportunity to look forward to opening our DraftKings SportsBook lounge inside the Mardi Gras later this year.
The only property that did do not report year-over-year increases to revenue and adjusted EBITDA in the first two months of the year was Twin River and Lincoln, which will not lap the year-over-year impact of new competition in the region until late in Q2. However, this story there was one of stabilization and recovery as on a GAAP basis gaming revenue for the first two months at Lincoln was down 21% year-over-year with slot volumes down only approximately 1%.
Factoring into gaming revenue from Tiverton, total gaming revenue for Rhode Island was down approximately 15% in the first two months, while our slot volumes were actually up approximately 3.6% year-over-year. Upon the COVID-19 closure, Twin River was at the point of handling the storm of the new $2.6 billion Encore Casino that opened in June 2019.
Twin River was continuing to outperform market expectations in the fourth quarter 2019 and more importantly, profitability. And through the first two months of this year, we're exceeding not only the performance of the fourth quarter 2019, but our expectations of the first quarter 2020.
With the $8.6 million of adjusted EBITDA in the month, February represented the strongest month of operating contribution at Lincoln, since Encore opened, and we believe we are on-track to exceed our recovery expectations. As expected, performance deteriorated dramatically in March as a result of the closing of all our properties mid-month. As a result, our total Q1 consolidated adjusted EBITDA was down just under 50% to $22 million, with Rhode Island down 53% and Biloxi down 42% compared to the prior year, offset by the full quarter impact of Dover and a partial quarter of Black Hawk, which were acquired in late Q1 2019 and the current quarter respectively.
In response to the shutdowns, we have taken broad-based actions to reduce expenses and also enhance liquidity, as Steve just mentioned. Beginning with our team members, the crisis has forced us to make some difficult decisions and by far the most difficult was placing most of our team members on furlough. We care deeply about the well-being of our team members and we recognize the impact that these furloughs have had on those affected.
And while we can't possibly mitigate the full impact of them, we have sought to provide continued support in the form of ongoing health benefits coverage at no cost. We also established a fund to provide financial assistance for those employees experiencing significant hardship.
We hope to bring these employees back as soon as possible. And as Marc will speak in a more detail in a few minutes, we are actively preparing to do so. When we do, protecting healthy safety of our team members and customers will be our utmost priority and the safety protocols we put into place will meet or exceed the standards set forth by local, state and federal health officials.
For those team members who have remained on the job throughout these closures, thank you for your hard work and keeping your property safe and secure. Your dedication and efforts have positioned us to open quickly when the time comes.
As we look forward and prepare for a return to business, we believe we will benefit from our status as the regional gaming company that is largely focused on local and regional visitation. The majority of our business comes primarily from local customers. We're not reliant on airlift, destination or convention businesses to drive results.
As operations resume, we believe our local customer base will position well within our industry. While these are certainly unprecedented times, we know that they will come to an end and we will look forward to the start of the recovery.
One byproduct to the current environment was a heightened focus on a cost control and the potential to leverage the experiences gained through this experience to better manage costs in the future, which we think will help us improve margins and profitability long-term.
Though it will vary slightly by property, we estimate the property level EBITDA will breakeven with 30% to 36% of prior year revenues. It should be noted that even socially distanced, we believe we can achieve 65% of prior year's revenues after an adjustment period based on occupancy.
I'll now turn it over to Marc to discuss a bit more detail some thoughts and updates on reopening efforts. Marc?
Marc Crisafulli -- Executive Vice President, Government Relations & President, Rhode Island Operations
Thanks, George. I wanted to reiterate that I hope everyone is safe and healthy. As we think about reopening consumer confidence is going to be the key to economic recovery, and thoughtful reopening strategies are going to be crucial to success for us in the short-term and the long-term. We have been laser-focused and hard at work on this. And while it will vary slightly from state to state, let me briefly outline our thinking about the question of how we reopen using Rhode Island as the example.
In Rhode Island, Governor Raimondo's stay-at-home order expired this past Friday and the state has begun the process of reopening its economy in a smart and measured fashion. It is not yet been determined when the state will authorize us to reopen the casinos.
However, beginning almost from the moment we closed the properties, we started working on a detailed comprehensive reopening plan. We have been working very closely with state and local government officials, public health officials and experts in epidemiology and biosafety to develop a phased approach to reopening with a set of protocols that will help deliver a safe environment for everyone.
We cannot emphasize enough how focused we are on the safety of our team members and our guests. The plan is likely to include among other things: screening of team members and guests upon entrance of the properties, potential use of thermal imaging cameras, enforcement of social distancing guidelines, including spacing between VLTs, and limited or no table games to start, frequent cleaning and sanitizing protocols for all areas, mask protection and public awareness signage.
Plan is also likely to roll-out in several phases with the first phase designed to open with more significant restrictions and limitations, including limited hours, fewer gaming options and reduced amenities.
Over time, as experience and broader environmental factors in the state improve, the expectation is that some of the restrictions and limitations will be relaxed and more options will be made available for our guests again in a smart and measured fashion.
We will continue to be driven by data by science and by public health guidelines as we evaluate and evolve our operating practices and guest interactions. And we remain focused on prioritizing long-term outcomes over short-term considerations.
As for the timing of reopening, it will ultimately depend on decisions made by government officials consulting with public health authorities and industry and company representatives. We are preparing to open our properties in phases as soon as we are allowed to reopen.
At this point, it would appear our Hard Rock Biloxi property is closest to reopening and we expect that to occur very soon, potentially as early as next week.
We are optimistic that openings at our other properties will follow shortly with both Rhode Island and Delaware potentially opening within the next month. It also appears that Missouri may join Mississippi in opening next week.
As George mentioned about Kansas City, we are scheduled for our regulatory approval hearing later this month, potentially positioning us to close on the Kansas City and Vicksburg acquisitions in June. While it is impossible to predict and the situation remains somewhat fluid, we may have as many as six casinos open in Mississippi, Missouri, Rhode Island and Delaware by mid-to-late June, if not sooner.
None of this is finally determined, however, and it is subject to change and dependent on a myriad of factors, including the health and safety of our team members and customers, which will remain of paramount importance.
I also wanted to provide an update on the status of the IGT Twin River joint venture. As we discussed on our last quarterly call, the new contracts and amendments with the state require authorizing legislation. That legislation was introduced by leadership of the House and Senate in February.
On March 11 and 12, the Rhode Island House and Senate Finance Committee conducted hearings on the proposed legislation. Immediately after those hearings, Rhode Island suspended legislative activity due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Rhode Island legislature has resumed some level of activity while being careful about the health and safety of everyone involved.
We remain hopeful that the legislature will address this legislation during this session but we cannot make any prediction about whether that will occur. In the event it does, we remain committed to proceeding with the expansion of Twin River in Lincoln as soon as we can complete the design and receive all necessary permits and approvals.
Our expectation is that all material provisions are as previously described, although the date that Twin River is able to assume the management of a portion of the VLTs on the floor may be delayed from July 1 of this year and so on or before October 1, given the current circumstances. There should be no impact however on the timing of the joint venture with IGT which we expect will remain as January 1, 2022. We will provide further update on all of this as it develops.
I'll now return it to you, George. Thank you.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Well, thank you, Marc. So, this concludes the prepared remarks section of the call. And we will now ask the operator to open it up to your questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Barry Jonas from SunTrust. Please go ahead.
Barry Jonas -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Hey guys, good morning. So just to start, we've seen some really encouraging anecdotes from the first few tribal reopening so far that really point to pent-up demand. Is it too early to think that could be the case at your properties? And with that, how should we think about the potential reduced gaming supplies impact to revenues?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hey, Barry, this is George. So, yes, we've been encouraged by the results of the first six tribal casinos that have opened. Certainly, appears to be some pent-up demand there. Now, they've been operating at 50% capacity. Indications that we're getting from our regulators, as it relates to Mississippi, should be around 50%; and from Rhode Island, although we have about 40% of our gaming positions that we'll be able to be utilize, is that effectively equates to about 65% of the positions that are utilized at any peak period of time. So, we feel comfortable about that.
So, we think there's going to be some pent-up demand. We think the openings will be limited from an amenity perspective, so you'll be getting more of a pure gamer that comes to the facility. I've been obviously, reading up a lot on everything that's been occurring. And it appears like a gamer is a risk-taker and that bodes well for us and it certainly makes sense.
So, it's to be seen what happens, but we're prepared for all scenarios. We can certainly go on any level of detail from a phasing perspective as it relates to that. But we're encouraged by the initial results. And we feel, because we're in a regional market, we'll have an upper hand as opposed to being in a resort or an area that requires any airlift transportation.
Barry Jonas -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Great, that's really helpful. And then look, the Northeast saw somewhat aggressive promotional environment before coronavirus started. How do you think the environment will be upon reopening in the Northeast, and I guess across all of your properties from a promotional perspective?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
So, listen, we instituted a communication plan immediately after closing that to focus on all our customers with special attention to our top 20%, effectively that are responsible for about 80% of our business, depending on the property.
So, we've been continually communicating via email. We've placed updates on our website regularly. Player development has been very active in contacting these 20% group for the most part. And in using all normal methods by phone, email, for example, certainly to text. So, we feel encouraged that they've been very responsive to our outreach communication and we feel that they're going to be excited about returning and we've provided all levels of scenarios. We're communicating well, either traditionally or electronically.
So, we're going to be opening in phases in Rhode Island, Delaware, initially. I talked about that on the last question. So, we're cautious about the levels of staffing initially and we're going to be scheduling staffing volumes as we experience whatever the reactions from the customers are going to be.
Barry Jonas -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Sorry. Just, I guess what I'm getting at is do you think we could somewhat see more aggressive promotional environment out of the gate here that could see an impact in margins or is everybody just going to be hyper focused on costs and try to avoid that?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
So, it's going to be a little bit of a wait and see. I don't think anybody is going to come out of the gate aggressively. As it relates to the regulatory bodies, they seem to be very cautious about going aggressively after high promotional activity. Their concern is about getting too much of a response where you're interrupting any of the physical distancing requirements that they have.
So, we're going to open a little bit more cautious which is in line with the fact that they're only allowing us to open as a percentage of capacity, and in some cases not even with restaurants depending on the jurisdiction.
So, we're not going to be aggressive. We're certainly ready. We have all types of programs that are shelved and ready to go. So, we have a variety approaches and we're going to react based on the initial responses. So, it's a little bit more of a wait and see initially, not to put any additional burden or concern on the Departments of Health in each of the markets.
Barry Jonas -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Got it. And then last one for me. How are you thinking about capital allocation once the credit release period ends, specifically should we expect the dividend to recommence or is maybe the focus potentially more higher ROI, M&A, just any color there would be helpful?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Steve, why don't you take that?
Stephen H. Capp -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Yes, sure. Hey, very good morning. Thanks for the questions this morning. Yes, listen, we have endeavored to exercise a balanced approach to capital allocation from day one, particularly as a public company from last year. We will continue that going forward.
So, the split between capex and capital return, i.e. buybacks or dividends and M&A cash for that, is all a balancing act. But the unilateral -- the singular concept that we look to move forward is accretive investment.
And so, if the stock price is X and the M&A opportunity is Y, the capex is the Z returns. We look at X, Y and Z and make decisions according to accretive opportunity and strategic initiatives. So, not a question -- I don't think we can answer specifically today other than we'll be guided by that kind of analytical exercise for sure.
Barry Jonas -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Great. Thanks so much, guys.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Barry.
Operator
Our next question comes from Brad Boyer from Stifel. Please go ahead.
Brad Boyer -- Stifel, Inc. -- Analyst
Hey, guys. Thanks for all the color thus far this morning. Very helpful. First question is just around the Bally's acquisition. I know it's a small number on face. But I know it's a market where a lot of folks on this call spent a lot of time over the years.
So, George if you could just help provide some additional color around how you're thinking about that deal not only in the near-term but sort of the longer-term, and so what that could become for you guys, that would be helpful?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure, Brad. How are you doing? So, this is -- as far as the rationale, pre-COVID-19, the market was a stabilized $3 billion market, including iGaming. And this acquisition, which we're excited about, certainly allows us entry into what I consider to be a profitable New Jersey iGaming market, as well as providing Sportsbook licenses.
So, the location center of the Boardwalk seems very heavy summer traffic. It's been well-maintained. There's really no deferred capex. However, as we stated earlier, we'll be implementing a rooms refurbishment program to address some dated rooms over the next several years. But another point about this agreement is that we were able to negotiate with Caesars that they would retain the unfunded liability under the existing multiemployer pension plans, with the unions there. Local 54 has allowed us to enter into a new adjusted pension plan. There's a couple other facilities in the market that also are under this new adjusted pension plan. But that effectively has no historical unfunded balance. So that was a nice concession. And that was a direct benefit to us.
So, we feel -- aside from recapturing lost market share, which was really orchestrated over the last few years by Caesars, really purely the benefit of sister properties. So, we feel we can capitalize on the recapture of that based on the way we aggressively market. And we're not afraid to compete.
Also, there is 80,000 square feet of conventional leading space in that facility. And that's effectively one of the largest in AC. So, that allows us some future opportunity to get some through traffic or into the facility.
So, it's historically -- LTM is somewhere in the $12 million EBITDA rate. Well, we think that there is an opportunity to probably move that almost up to 100% gain over the next three years.
Brad Boyer -- Stifel, Inc. -- Analyst
That's helpful. And then with respect to MontBleu, it's obviously a smaller asset. i think there is some chatter in the market that there's potential expansion opportunities around that asset. I guess can you provide us some additional color around your rationale to acquire that asset given its size and then sort of how it fits into the portfolio? And any thoughts around, again sort of long-term opportunities there?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure, Brad. This is a beautiful property, recently went through a $25 million renovation. We feel we can establish that property, which would be beneficial to us as a destination property for our customer base, who we can cross-market to. And this provides considerable incentive for who we consider to be our most loyal customers. And other than Biloxi, we really didn't have an opportunity to do that.
So, we think that will be a direct benefit to our database. So, we see opportunity in -- again, and capture not only lost market share but local market share. Recently, there was an announcement of one of the five facilities that's in [Indecipherable] that effectively service the local market.
I think we were the second marketer to a local market behind this facility. So again, there is some potential upside there. That's not going to be open post-COVID-19. And we also feel we're a direct beneficiary of the recent city approved convention center that is literally built on the perimeter of our site. So, we're going to see if that comes to fruition. If it does, we think that there are some opportunities to do some project capex that will be complementary to that.
Brad Boyer -- Stifel, Inc. -- Analyst
Okay. And then lastly just kind of a bigger picture question around sort of some of the fallout from COVID. Yourselves and others have talked about how the shutdown has allowed you to really hone in on the operation and find some inefficiencies within the business, potentially offset any incremental costs related directly to enhanced sanitation what have you. Can you provide us any additional color or granularity around any of these efficiencies that you've uncovered thus far? I think that would be helpful. Thanks.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So, any time you have something like this, you can take -- and time on your hands effectively from an operational perspective, you got an opportunity to kind of go back and look at how you ran things versus how you would have to run things in a crisis.
So, there's really -- there's going to be some initial costs, certainly more initial costs associated with sanitizing throughout the facility, as well as other products that's going to be required like for example facemasks and defensive gloves. There's some other physical barriers that needs to be constructed. So, you put those costs aside subsequent to the COVID-19 crisis, once they find whether it's a therapeutic or a vaccine.
Then we get into the kind of how you see you ran your operation and a lot of that does revolve around levels of staffing that you're providing, based on the volume.
So, there are certainly some opportunities there as you find out could run a little bit more efficiently. I think in our case though, we've always been a very efficient operation. So, from a variable perspective, there will be some. I don't know if we could overstate the amount of that. We'll certainly learn more as we go through the phasing process. But we do find from a fixed perspective there is opportunity as well.
So, we think overall there is going to be benefit to margins, we saw with this unfortunate exercise.
Brad Boyer -- Stifel, Inc. -- Analyst
Thanks, guys. Very helpful.
Operator
Our next question comes from John DeCree from Union Gaming. Please go ahead.
John Decree -- Union Gaming -- Analyst
Good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. Two from me. One on the acquisitions and then one housekeeping item for Steve on the liquidity.
I guess first as it relates to Shreveport and Mont Bleu, obviously the valuation you guys had was quite attractive given the environment. But these assets were for sale a couple of months ago. Curious if you had look at demand and then kind of what -- other than the kind of valuation, what different wins that you kind of see these buildings this time around relative to last time if you did take a look last time?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yes. So, we did take a look. Aside from the fact that the properties, in our opinion each brought something unique to our portfolio. These were opportunities that were presented to us at different times in 2019. So, we were familiar with them. We had an opportunity to do a fair amount of due diligence at the time.
We did pass on them due to price at the time, more specially Eldorado and Shreveport. So, they were already on our radar when the opportunity rose. Again, we negotiated a good price and we felt comfortable with the opportunity.
John Decree -- Union Gaming -- Analyst
Got it. Okay. And then maybe for Steve, just wanted to clarify your comments about liquidity and cash need from your prepared remarks. I think I heard that the cash need would be about $3 million a month, and I think that was if you had to take additional mitigation measures. So, clarify that. And then, if so what's -- if you could give us some color as to what the kind of cash need is before you take any additional mitigation measures?
Stephen H. Capp -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Yes, John. So, harkening back to the original press release we made about liquidity in light of the COVID mandated shutdown of all of our properties, we had mentioned we had intended to adopt kind of a Phase 1, Phase 2 approach. In Phase 1, which frankly we're still in today kind of a modified version of that, was focused on two things, maintaining a posterior for reopening quickly and efficiently in the event that that would happen in the near-term. And that's, as Mark commented, that certainly seems to be the case. But if that were not to be the case, then, Phase 2, we would flip to, which was a essentially kind of a, call it lock down or mothball type of mode, where we would eliminate, I should say, furlough, any and all employees not otherwise necessary to maintain the properties or maintain our corporate footprint and presence.
And so, that would be a very kind of draconian scenario. We'd have maybe a handful of employees per property including just a couple of salaried staff and facilities, security surveillance just bare minimums per property. And at corporate, we've cut way-way back and would maintain our reporting requirements and overall kind of strategic initiative staff and the likes. But it'd be the bare minimum strategy.
And that's the basis that that second phase, the Phase 2 based on which we could pair our opex back $3 million. Bear in mind John that that opex, so that's property and corporate on a monthly basis. But debt service costs and some of the lumpy stuff is in addition to that. So, property tax payments, the insurance payments are kind of lumpy and separate from that. So, there are two buckets of costs and the $3 million is the monthly opex.
But to your question, we're running at circa $7 million to $8 million today on that opex number, and we could take that down by more than half to $3 million if we needed to. And that was the basis for my comments. When you take that number and if you were to average out the other lumpy costs debt service and then the others that I mentioned that we have, even in the context of funding for cash all of -- all applied acquisitions over the next six months to nine months that we'd have in excess of 18 months of liquidity in this environment in a Phase 2 lockdown type of mode.
John Decree -- Union Gaming -- Analyst
Oh, great. That answers my question, Steve. Thanks for the additional clarity and good luck on a quick and safe reopening of the properties. Thanks, George.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from Lance Vitanza from Cowen. Please go ahead.
Lance Vitanza -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Hi, guys, thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on all of the announced M&A. I actually -- I guess I wanted to sort of ask two questions. The first is with respect to profitability levels and margins and so forth as the casinos begin to reopen. And then I had another question about the Bally's acquisition in particular.
But with respect to the first question, at 50% capacity let's just say, can you turn an operating profit, can you service your debt, is there sort of a breakeven percentage that you need to kind of have going through the casinos to either achieve operating profit or to be free cash flow positive?
And just how more generally, how do you see this recovery playing out versus what you saw coming out of the great recession? I mean I gather it's going to be different but in what ways do you think it will be better or worse for operators like Twin River?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
So I'll take a piece of this. Steve, if want to add-on to the first part of the question and then we can get into the second part of question. But in the first part of the question, we think somewhere in a 55% to 60% of historical revenues gets us to breakeven with all of debt service included. This is a pre pro forma of the new assets, but based on our existing operations and existing levels of debt.
And to give you an example, you've asked a question about profitability, if we use Twin River, for example, we get a 50% of historical revenues. We'd be doing close to $3 million in EBITDA as a result of that.
Lance Vitanza -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Super helpful.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
And I think your second question was --
Lance Vitanza -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Well, do you see any major differences in terms of how this recovery plays out? And as gamblers returning to casinos, does this -- I mean is there any kind of thought as to who would come back first and what sort of impact that may have on your ability to get back to profitability?
Stephen H. Capp -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
George, I'll take a swipe and then you can add in as well. You know, Lance, I think the fundamental difference is that maybe I don't see this with too much -- pretend like there's too much definition to this, but the state of the consumer is probably the biggest difference that I think we see from the '08 financial crisis till today.
What I mean is, back in the '08, '09 context, the consumer was really beat up. Unemployment was very high. Discretionary income was typical of that obviously. And we come off a strong bull market and we were in a very serious trough that we all can look around and knew it was going to take years to dig out of.
This one, we think could be very different from that. Not in the sense that we're just kind of gallantly declaring a V-shaped recovery and everything is going to be great. But rather that with the governmental support of small businesses and furloughed or unemployed workers, there's been a tremendous amount of liquidity provided to the system. And we're still in the context of the pre-COVID bull market that was raging pretty well at that time.
So, we think a combination of the potential for kind of a U-shaped recovery, the overall American spirit would kind of break out of our shelter-in-place shackles if you will and begin anew to get out and rebuild together with the massive amount of liquidity provided by the various federal agencies. We think this could be different and so some of the initial results that George touched on earlier about casino reopenings we think are perhaps evidence that that may be the case for us.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
I guess I could add one more point to that, which kind of echoes what Steve is saying that you recall the regional markets after the recession, they bounced back pretty quickly. Obviously, there was a decline in 2008, 2009. But like, 2010 they were at pre-recession levels and grew from there. We also -- we think that's an encouraging point to us, which I think I mentioned earlier is that our properties are in markets where the customer is a local market. So, we're really a regional operator at this point.
So, our customer comes within 20 or 30 minutes distance from the drive time perspective. Certainly, no airlift required to get to our properties and we don't rely on convention and meeting business as well. So, we have an opportunity really to attract the more of the pure gamer.
Lance Vitanza -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Thank you. And then just lastly from me that is on the Bally's acquisition and I appreciate the comment about none of these acquisitions having deferred capex needs. But I would think that Caesars never put a lot of money recently, didn't put much money on that property. I would think there'd be an opportunity should you want to avail yourself of it to put some money into that property whether it's upgrading or updating rather or what have you. Do you -- but it doesn't sound like that's sort of on the agenda at least on the near-term. Am I getting that right, I'm just wondering?
And then more broadly, what are you seeing here that Caesars-Eldorado didn't see? What makes you think you can run the property more effectively or was this just simply an opportunistic situation where those guys had to sell the property to get their deal closed?
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
So, I made the point that we have a lot of Atlantic City Market gaming experience within the ranks of our company. I certainly was there. I ran resorts. Even though, I'm dating myself in the early 2000s. So, there certainly is potential there. The location was very appealing to us. We're excited about that. But we also took into consideration the fact that we get a Sportsbook license and we also have an opportunity to get into iGaming, that'll be the first market our company is involved in outside of Delaware. And Delaware is really not set up appropriately, so Atlantic City is a much better model for iGaming.
So, we're excited about that. I had mentioned that we would be putting money into refurbishment of 700 rooms. There's 1,200 -- there's little over 1,200 rooms here. 700 of them are a little dated. So, we'll go back and do a refurbishment on that over the next few years.
We will absolutely be looking to introduce brands to that market. We've done that quite successfully in Hard Rock. We are on our way to doing it in Delaware. So, we've done that in other markets and we see opportunity and potential there.
Have a great location They have a great location in front of Bally's which is say a summer bar -- beach bar area, I think is the most profitable Atlantic City. We have an opportunity to capitalize on that.
One of the biggest areas is in the convention business where we have 80,0000 square feet, it's one of the largest in the Atlantic City and also it's actually larger than Caesars. And what they've been doing over the last several years is moving a lot of the business to the sister properties and to primarily Caesars and Hard Rock [Phonetic]. So, they brought market share that we feel we have the ability to capture. So, there could be some capex going into the convention side of the business. But we'll need more time to evaluate that.
The other thing that's interesting is the Eldorado is a -- they're not secretive about it. They are an operation that goes in and look for efficiencies to do that quite well. But what they do is they do sacrifice market share as a result of that.
So, we're not afraid to compete in competitive markets. We think that we're more aggressive in a more profitable way and we're targeting profitable ways than other operators. So, we think that's an opportunity that market share has been taken away. Because we do acquire this asset with the existing database, so that's very helpful that we'll be able to market to.
So, we'll be looking to introduce brands which we think could be accretive to the property and also we'll be looking to reintroduce customers that haven't been there.
Lance Vitanza -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
Thanks guys.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Lance.
Operator
This concludes the Q&A portion of our call and I would like to turn it back to George Papanier for final comments.
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Well, I want to thank you operator and I want to thank you all for joining our call today. Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 57 minutes
Call participants:
Craig Eaton -- Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Compliance Officer
George Papanier -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Stephen H. Capp -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Marc Crisafulli -- Executive Vice President, Government Relations & President, Rhode Island Operations
Barry Jonas -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Brad Boyer -- Stifel, Inc. -- Analyst
John Decree -- Union Gaming -- Analyst
Lance Vitanza -- Cowen & Company -- Analyst
