Two minutes before its Q3 results were released, Golden Entertainment shared details of the company's sale.
Blake Sartini, CEO and Chairman of the operator, has taken the company private with a definitive agreement to purchase all of its operating assets.
That deal excludes seven of the company's casino real estate assets, which have separately been sold to Vici Properties in a sale-leaseback transaction.
In return, Golden stockholders will receive recompense from both parties at a fixed ratio - for each share, from VICI, they receive 0.902 shares of VICI common stock and from Sartini, they receive $2.75.
Sartini has said: "Since founding Golden in 2001, I have focused on providing exceptional service to our guests on the Las Vegas Strip, in our Nevada regional resorts, local casinos and at our market leading taverns. This mission will remain unchanged and I am incredibly honored to lead Golden's 5,000 employees into the next stage of our evolution as a private company."
As a result of this news, Golden Entertainment canceled its earnings call, in which it would have discussed the Q3 revenue figure of $154.8m.
This number is a drop off from Q3 2024, when the company generated $161.2m in revenue.
The company made a net loss for this period of $4.7m, another stark contrast to last year, when it pulled in a net income of $5.2m.
Nonetheless, shareholders did receive a quarterly cash dividend at the start of October of $0.25 per share.
The largest Q3 figures come in the debt and liquidity section of Golden Entertainment's results, with the company's total principal amount outstanding at $430.1m.
As of 30 September, when that debt figure was calculated, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $58.3m and $205m of remaining availability under its current revolving credit facility.
As part of the deal to sell the company, VICI will now assume and repay up to $426m of the outstanding debt, while Santander has given Sartini a debt financing commitment to support the cash portion of the transaction.
Charles Protell is Golden's President and Chief Financial Officer and he had this to say on the deal: "The Company is excited to have reached an agreement with Blake Sartini to acquire the company at a significant premium to Golden's current share price with VICI providing capital support through a sale-leaseback transaction in a tax efficient structure."
Golden Entertainment's COO since early 2024 has been Blake Sartini II
