GGRAsia – Caesars’ Loveman departs as staff, US$3.25-mln bonus

Caesars’ Loveman departs as staff, US$3.25-mln bonus

Dec 26, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Gary Loveman (pictured), the man who led casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp at the time one of its units requested reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, is to receive a US$3.25-million bonus when he ceases to be an employee of the group on December 31. He will remain chairman.

According to a Caesars filing to Nasdaq in New York on Friday, the bonus payment was authorised on December 20 by the human resources committee of the company’s board.

“Following the termination of his employment agreement, Mr Loveman will no longer be an employee of the company, but will continue to serve as chairman of the board,” stated the filing.

In July 2015, Mark Frissora, a former chief executive of rental car firm Hertz Global Holdings Inc, took over as president and CEO of Caesars Entertainment, posts that had been held by Mr Loveman. The latter, a former economics professor at Harvard Business School, stayed on as chairman as part of that leadership transition.

Caesars Entertainment Operating Co Inc – the part of the business running some of the group’s most profitable venues including flagship properties in Las Vegas – requested reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code from a court in Chicago in January 2015. It was part of a plan to cut group debt by approximately US$10 billion.

Some investment analysts had said the fact Caesars Entertainment had not found a route to expand its operations to the high-growth gambling markets of Asia – unlike its Las Vegas market rivals Las Vegas Sands Corp, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts Ltd – contributed to its difficulties. Caesars Entertainment instead had to rely on the modest-growth U.S. domestic market.

Caesars Entertainment had tried to parlay a Macau golf course into a casino project, but in August 2013 sold the 70-hectare (175-acre) Caesars Golf Macau to local investors for US$438 million; a price 24 percent below the US$577 million that Caesars Entertainment’s corporate predecessor, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, paid for it in 2007.

Caesars Entertainment has plans for a casino resort in South Korea. Hong Kong-listed real estate developer Lippo Ltd, one of the partners in a consortium for that scheme, confirmed in a filing in early December that it was still negotiating the disposal of its stake in the venture.

On Friday in a second filing to Nasdaq, Caesars Entertainment said that some bank creditors of Caesars’ operating unit had withdrawn a default notice they had served on the latter.