Trump Entertainment to miss interest payment <i> Facing tough competition and sliding revenue amid the economic meltdown, Trump Entertainment Resorts will have to skip a $53.1 million interest payment scheduled for Monday on its 8.5% senior secured notes due 2015 in order to maintain sufficient liquidity. The Atlantic City, N.J., casino operator, with about $1.25 billion worth of the notes outstanding, said late Friday that it has a 30-day grace period to pay up and will meanwhile seek talks with its lenders to revamp its capital structure and improve its liquidity. A panel of independent directors will oversee the talks, the company said. If it doesn't make the payment in the 30-day grace period, Trump Entertainment said, holders of a quarter of the notes and lenders under a $490 million senior secured loan to a company subsidiary will be able to accelerate the maturities of those obligations. Donald Trump, the television personality and New York real estate investor, is non-executive chairman and the largest shareholder of Trump Entertainment which operates three Atlantic City casinos: The Trump Taj Mahal and the Trump Plaza on the Boardwalk and the Trump Marina in the Marina district. The last is being sold to Coastal Development for $270 million in a deal that has seen the price lowered and the closing deadline delayed. Trump Entertainment "is separate and distinct from Mr. Trump's privately held real estate and other holdings, which the company understands encompasses substantially all of his net worth," the company said. After his casinos twice ran into bankruptcy, Trump was removed from having any operating role in them as part of the deal that brought the company out of Chapter 11 the last time around. And it could happen again: Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings warned that after the company drew a remaining $25 million available on its credit facility this quarter to help fund an expansion, "it will have little to no access to committed external funds." The ratings agency also said that "given Trump's heavy debt load and the expected operating pressure in Atlantic City over the next 12 months, it is crucial for Trump to close the Trump Marina sale in order to avoid a restructuring, in the absence of another transaction." On Nov. 7, Trump Entertainment reported that it swung to a third-quarter loss of $139.1 million, or $4.39 a share, from a profit of $6.6 million, or 21 cents, in the year-earlier period. Continuing operations produced a loss of $3.49 a share against profit of 7 cents. Revenue fell 8.4% to $198.3 million. The company cited slower consumer spending, competition from Pennsylvania, and a smoking ban as the primary factors in the latest results. The number of customers was relatively stable, but spending per person declined, the company said. The company said then that it was controlling its costs and that its 21 top-paid executives had agreed to a 5% salary cut. Shares of Trump closed at 31 cents Friday, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $10 million. The stock price scraped as low as 25 cents earlier this month after trading near $6 this time last year. Trump faces Deutsche Bank suit Separately, Crain's Chicago Business reported that Deutsche Bank AG, the lead lender on the City's Trump International Hotel & Tower, is suing Donald Trump, trying to collect a $40-million personal guarantee he made to help get financing for the 92-story high-rise. The bank filed the suit Friday in state court in New York, charging that Trump defaulted on the loan earlier this month by not paying off $334.2 million due to Deutsche Bank and its syndicate. The move follows a suit Trump filed that accused Deutsche Bank and its syndicate of wrongly refusing to extend a Nov. 7 maturity date of a $640-million loan. The magazine cited Trump's legal action as saying the lenders are harming condo-hotel unit sales and that a "force majeure" clause in the loan agreement applies, since the world financial crisis is an extraordinary event that permits a loan extension. </i>
I'll tell her that haha. My Taiwanese isn't great, so telling her that the market hasn't bottomed out got lost in the translation.
Redstone Sells Control of Midway to Ease Debt <i> In an effort to help resolve his debt problems, Sumner Redstone has sold his controlling stake in videogame company Midway Games Inc. to a private investor. Mr. Redstone's holding company, National Amusements Inc., is expected to announce Monday that it sold its 87% stake in Midway to investor Mark Thomas, a move that represents a significant loss on the media mogul's investment but secures a hefty tax benefit as he negotiates other asset sales. National Amusements is in negotiations with its banks to restructure its $1.6 billion debt pile after breaching one of its debt covenants. As part of the restructuring, the Redstone family has been discussing selling some of its assets, including some movie theaters and a holding in slot-machine company WMS Industries. The sale of the Midway stake, agreed upon Friday, wasn't conducted as part of a deal with the banks but is likely to ease the pressure on the Redstone family and potentially contribute to a final deal. A spokesperson for National Amusements said the holding company determined it would be financially beneficial to sell the Midway stake in 2008. Mr. Thomas has agreed to pay about $100,000, or $0.0012 a share, for the Midway stake and will assume $70 million of senior secured and unsecured debt, National Amusements is expected to detail in a 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Mr. Thomas has no prior relationship with Midway Games. With the sale, National Amusements is expected to realize a 2008 tax loss of more than $800 million, according to a person familiar with the situation. National Amusements could use a portion of the loss against income earned this year, as well as a tax refund of amounts paid in prior years, the person said. The sale of the Midway stake marks the end of a tumultuous investment for Mr. Redstone. He poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the company, only to see his investment fizzle as the company failed to create new hit games and its stock collapsed. Mr. Redstone's stake had a market value of just $30 million Friday, but he sold it for a huge discount to even that -- a condition of finding a buyer quickly and completing a deal this year. Mr. Redstone has already sold $233 million of his holdings in Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. to help resolve his family's debt issues. He has vowed not to sell any more of his holdings in those two companies. National Amusements' $1.6 billion of debt isn't currently secured by any assets. However, under a new deal, the Redstones are discussing securing their outstanding debt with some of their remaining assets, according to people familiar with the situation. </i>
Manufacturing index drops to 26-year low It's official: U.S. in a recession since December 2007 Another day, another sh** storm of bad eco news, another day of volatile trading.
I got into SDS a day too early last week, but it's paying off nicely right now. I'm wondering how low the S&P goes down before bouncing...I'd like to ride it down to 800ish.
Yeah, especially since it looks like that slow bleed that's been going on all day is approaching a crossroads.
