Riviera Holdings Corp., the owner of casinos in Nevada and Colorado, said it received a $256 million buyout offer from real-estate developer Ian Bruce Eichner and D.E. Shaw & Co., almost three months after rejecting a lower bid.
Eichner and D.E. Shaw have exclusive rights for 30 days to negotiate a transaction, Riviera said in a statement today.
The $21-a-share offer is 3.5 percent higher than Las Vegas-based Riviera’s closing stock price at the end of last week.
Riviera is considering its third offer this year after rejecting a $17 bid from investors Neil Bluhm and Barry Sternlicht in August for being too low. A group led by Boston- based BT Enterprises also made a $20 offer earlier that month, which Riviera’s board said didn’t have enough information.
D.E. Shaw, based in New York, is Riviera’s biggest shareholder with a 9.8 percent stake. Eichner holds 4.8 percent of the company.
Riviera’s flagship property, Riviera Hotel & Casino, is on one of the last sites on the Las Vegas Strip that could be redeveloped. Riviera also has a casino in Blackhawk, Colorado.
Shareholders including D.E. Shaw said in August they would vote against the sale to the Sternlicht group because they believed its bid undervalued the company by at least $6 a share.
Riviera shares rose 80 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $21.09, at 2:07 p.m. today in American Stock Exchange composite trading.
The stock had risen 24 percent this year before today.
Las Vegas had a record 38.6 million visitors in 2005, a 3 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Riviera’s net loss widened to $4 million last year from $2.1 million in 2004 on revenue that rose 0.4 percent to $202.2 million.
Riviera announced in February 2005 it was considering a sale of the company.
