This Tuesday brought the most recent development around Gateway Casinos and Entertainment, as Catalyst Capital Group Inc. filed for Initial Public Offering of the casino operator. The ultimate goal of this IPO would be the generating of some $100 million with the help of selling shares of the company to investors interested in the company.
The next chapter of the ongoing string of events surrounding Gateway Casinos and Entertainment recently became clear, at the private equity firm gave green light of the IPO. It is facing only the United States making sure that the capital generated provides a further boost for the development of the company.
The company is now looking for buyers of stock in the company for the very first time, following previous attempts to attract other companies interested in purchasing Gateway.
Long-anticipated IPO Launches
At the moment the general environment of the field might not be that positive for Catalyst since it has been going through quite a rough patch for some time. There has been a drop in the Standard and Poor’s 500 stock market index reaching some 9.3 percent over the past nearly two months. According to the filing and information provided in it, all proceeds of the IPO will be utilized by Catalyst Capital.
It has been specified that debts will not be covered by the capital amassed through the public offering of company shares. Companies in possession of shares in Gateway will benefit from it. Furthermore, major changes were announced as well, as it has been confirmed that Newton Glassman, Chief Executive Officer of the equity firm will make his way out of the board of directors once the IPO is over. It will soon be announced who is going to succeed him.
Earlier this year the private equity firm commenced efforts towards launching the IPO and mid-April it introduced many investment bankers to the opportunities the casino company has on offer. Leaders to the liking of Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Group Ltd. were introduced to several of the casino venues situated in British Columbia.
Previous Estimations and Plans
Back then the plans for this IPO was to generate some $400 million, but shortly after the tour of the leading companies across the gaming venues the news flow related to the topic run dry. What was known at the time, however, was that the private equity firm has decided to conduct a dual-track process and either sell part of the company via a minority stake or launch the IPO.
It is not a secret to anyone that the firms also considered the opportunity of selling the entire company to a rival casino developer and operator potentially interested in acquiring Gateway Casinos and Entertainment. A previous attempt at filing for such shares sale and going public was made in 2012, this time facing Canada solely and willing to boost the local economy, but upon further consideration, the papers filed were withdrawn.
This happened after Catalyst’s purchase of the casino company back in 2010, entering almost a decade-long effort to derive benefit from the company. However, the times have changed or the casino company and many investments have been made ever since then. Gateway purchased a portion of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation which has further boosted its offerings. This expansion made sure operation crossed the British Columbia borders and spread through other provinces as well.
