According to reports in the finance industry, Deutsche Bank is in the process of selling its 16.9 percent stake in Las Vegas based Red Rock Resorts which was formerly known as Station Casinos. The sale is expected to bring in around $440 million in revenue and will give Germany’s largest bank much needed capital as its shareholders are concerned about its current balance sheet.
Red Rock Resorts owns more than ten casinos spread across Nevada and California. The casino properties in Las Vegas tend to focus more on the domestic market rather than targeting visitors like other properties on the Strip do. Red Rock Resorts completed its IPO earlier this year and the Deutsche Bank sale rumors were announced as soon as the 180 day share lock-up period was completed on October 24.
Deutsche Bank has neither denied nor confirmed the rumors of its proposed sale of Red Rock Resorts shares but the bank’s chief financial officer Marcus Schenk told analysts on October 27 that the bank would make a profit on its Red Rock shares during the fourth quarter of this year.
Earlier this month, Ken Liu, analyst at UNITE HERE Gaming Research said “Deutsche Bank is in dire need of additional capital, so we expect them to sell off their Las Vegas casino stake as soon as they can on or after October 24. Deutsche Bank investors should certainly welcome the cash infusion and capital boost that can come from selling and exiting the casino assets.” UNITE HERE represents approximately 270,000 workers in the hotels, textile, industrial laundry, gaming and food service industries throughout the U.S.
Deutsche Bank has been hit with a number of banking violations during the last couple of years which include the rigging of global interest rates and criminal wire fraud which the bank pled guilty to. The bank has to pay out more than $2.5 billion in penalties as a result and as a result is looking to liquidate some of its assets in order to gain sufficient funds to pay off its fines.
Back in 2015, the Culinary Workers Union which was at odds with Station Casinos tried to stop the company’s IPO by playing the Deutsche Bank card. The Union which has more than 60,000 casino employees as members cited the bank’s non-disclosures and wire fraud activities and deemed it an unsuitable shareholder but was unable to stop the IPO. The majority shareholders for Red Rock Resorts are Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who recently sold the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for more than $4 billion.
Red Rock Resorts issued a prospectus last week and confirmed that Deutsche Bank plans to dispose of its 16.9 percent stake along with two more shareholders. Oaktree will dispose its 3.8 percent stake in the company and Fidelity will sell its entire 6.9 percent stake as well.