Another Sale for Caesars

Friday night, Caesars Entertainment (NYSE:CZR) announced an agreement to sell Bally's Casino New Orleans to an affiliate of privately held hotel operator Columbia Sussex for approximately $24 million. This marks the second in what is expected to be a series of asset sales related to the pending merger between Caesars and acquirer Harrah's Entertainment (NYSE:HET).

As in the first sale announced last month, Caesars is not giving up much. Bally's New Orleans is by far the last-place player in the New Orleans market, which consists of Harrah's land-based casino and three riverboats. As it is, Harrah's generates more action than the three riverboats combined.

Also similar to last month's deal, the Bally's New Orleans sale comes with a somewhat familiar partner: Harrah's sold its Vicksburg, Miss., property to Columbia Sussex last year.

The companies expect the transaction to close by the end of Q2 2005. Caesars doesn't expect to report either a material gain or a loss on the deal.

In July, in response to the previous month's merger agreement between Las Vegas Strip giants MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGG) and Mandalay Resort Group (NYSE:MBG), (see Mandalay Says "I Do" and The Logic of MGM/Mandalay), Harrah's and Caesars announced their own deal to create the world's largest casino operator (see No Quick Win in Casino Merger). Combined, Harrah's and Caesars own more than 50 casinos across dozens of gaming markets, but with considerable overlap. To ease trade concerns, the two companies have moved quickly to sell off assets.

Last month, Harrah's and Caesars announced the sale of four properties to an affiliate of Colony Capital for $1.24 billion (see Harrah's/Caesars Expects Payoff and Smooth Sale for Harrah's?). Both companies announced third-quarter earnings last week (see Vegas, Horseshoe Boost Harrah's and Looking Up at Caesars).

Fool contributor Jeff Hwang owns none of the companies mentioned above.