A Brookfield Asset Management affiliate, the frontrunner earlier today in an auction for the bankrupt Revel casino hotel in Atlantic City, has been edged back out, according to Reuters.
Florida-based developer Glen Straub topped a previous high bid of $94 million came as an auction that paused last week — due to the Rosh Hashanah holiday — was resumed this afternoon, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Straub had previously submitted a $90 million all-cash offer, which the Brookfield affiliate, which also owns Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, initially entered the bidding by topping. Other bidders include a member of the Meruelo family, which attempted but failed to Buy The Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City last year, and another New Jersey real estate developer, a source close to the auction told the Journal.
The auction has reportedly been conducted with great secrecy and has more recently become bogged down in a dispute between Revel and Straub, which could lead to additional litigation, the Journal reported.
“Any degree of confidence in [Revel’s lawyers’] ability to conduct a fair auction is nonexistent,” lawyers for Straub said in court papers cited by the Journal.
Meanwhile, John Cunningham, a lawyer representing Revel, told the newspaper that allegations of unfairness are a “baseless objection.” [Reuters] and [WSJ] — Julie Strickland