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| Fr id a y, A u gu s t 2 7 , 2 0 1 0 | L A N G L E Y A D V A N C E
Peter Fassbender Langley City mayor
Cascades Casino
New owners gamble
Langley City won’t notice any changes as the casino gets a new owner next month. by Matthew Claxton
mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
Gateway Casinos, including Langley’s Cascades Casino, will have new owners and $1 billion less debt, if a deal is approved next month. Catalyst Capital, a Toronto-based investment fund, will be taking over control of the firm if B.C. and Alberta gambling authorities give the final okay in mid-September. Catalyst was formerly one of the biggest lenders to Gateway, and it is essentially swapping debt for control of the company. Tennenbaum Capital, a California firm, will also be taking a larger stake in the chain of casinos, but it will not have control. As part of the restructuring, the former
owners will see their share reduced to two per cent of the company. Rick Orzy, a Toronto lawyer speaking for the new ownership group, said it will be a good news story for the firm. In addition to wiping $1 billion in debt off the books of Gateway, the new owners will inject $100 million US into the company. There are not expected to be job losses or major changes to the way the Cascades or other casinos are run, Orzy said. The company’s problems had to do with its load of debt, not with its actual casinos, he said. The newly restructured company will be much leaner, with about two thirds of its debt wiped off the books, said Orzy. Nor will the deal affect the agreement that sees an average of $6 million a year flow to Langley City coffers. “That [the contract] isn’t even directly with them, that’s with the BC Lottery Corporation,” City Mayor Peter Fassbender said.