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LAS VEGAS-Casino owner and operator Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. will complete a 10-million-share public offering today at $32 per share. Including the additional 1.5 million shares underwriters Bear Stearns and Lehman Bros. likely will acquire at a 4% discount, the overall deal is expected to generate $366 million in gross proceeds.

Pinnacle will use the net proceeds in part to continue expanding its existing facilities and to complete several ongoing new development projects. The company is currently working on projects in St. Louis, Sugarcane Bay and Atlantic City.

At Pinnacle's construction site in Downtown St. Louis, a new casino resort is under construction. The $430-million project, called Lumiere Place, is scheduled to open in the second half of 2007. In addition, site work also is underway for River City, Pinnacle's $375 million casino project in south St. Louis County.

In November, lenders agreed to boost Pinnacle Entertainment's credit facility to $1 billion from $750 million to facilitate its acquisition of the Sands casino and former Traymore hotel sites in Atlantic City, which closed in November. The contiguous properties were acquired from an affiliate of billionaire financier Carl Icahn's American Real Estate Holdings LP for about $250 million. The Sands Casino has been closed and will be torn down and replaced.

Pinnacle had 48.1 million shares outstanding as of Nov. 6. On Friday, when it priced the offering, its share price closed at $33.95, up $1.05 on the day. On Wednesday, after falling back slightly on Tuesday, its share price closed at $33.61, down $0.01 on the day.

Instant Insights /

Pinnacle Set for Major Cash Infusion

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