VICI Raises $1.4B in Largest Hotel REIT IPO

VICI acquired Harrah’s Las Vegas from Caesars under a sale-leaseback arrangement late last year.

LAS VEGAS—Gaming casino REIT VICI Properties said Monday afternoon it had closed its initial public offering of 69,575,000 shares of common stock, including 9,075,000 shares sold to the IPO’s underwriters upon full exercise of their overallotment option. With gross proceeds of approximately $1.4 billion, it’s the fourth largest IPO in REIT history and the largest in the hotel sector, according to CoStar Group. Shares of VICI’s stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange this past Thursday, and were trading above the IPO price as of mid-day Tuesday.

The IPO, which was launched on Jan. 22, was upsized last week to 60.5 million shares from the original 50 million; at $20 per share, it traded at the midpoint of its pricing range. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as joint book-running managers and as representatives of the underwriters for the offering. Barclays, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank Securities served as bookrunners. Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank, Stifel, Citizens Capital Markets, Wells Fargo Securities, Nomura and Union Gaming acted as co-managers for the offering.