Bahamas casino operator to be sold for $3bn to chairman, investors

Kerzner International Ltd., operator of the Atlantis casino in the Bahamas, agreed to be sold for about $3 billion to a group that includes the company's chairman and chief executive officer. The shares had their biggest gain in more than three years.

Chairman Sol Kerzner, CEO Butch Kerzner, shareholder Istithmar PJSC and other investors will pay $76 a share, 8 percent more than the closing price on March 17. The transaction will take Kerzner International private and allow the father and son team to boost their stake to 25 percent.

The Kerzners will gain control of a company they built into the largest casino operator in the Caribbean, and the deal may allow them to fend off possible takeover bids amid a wave of mergers in the industry.

"There is immense global consolidation in this industry," said casino-industry analyst Eugene Christiansen of New York- based Christiansen Capital Advisors. "Everyone is a target. No one is safe. That might be in their minds."

Kerzner's shares jumped $9.07, or 13 percent, to $79.43 at 4:03 p.m., $3.43 above the offer, a sign investors expect a higher bid for the company. The stock rose 11 percent in the year through March 17.

The company operates the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, the Bahamas. The Kerzners control about 11 percent of the company's shares.

Atlantis owners plan to take company private

he Kerzner family, best known for building the grandiose Atlantis hotel and casino into the Bahamas' signature resort, wants to take its company private in a $3.6 billion deal with investors that include the Related Cos. of New York and the Dubai government.
Kerzner International is in the midst of a building spree as it prepares to expand the Atlantis brand to the Middle East.
With acquisitions on the rise in the increasingly consolidating casino industry, concerns of a potential takeover bid may have prompted the Kerzners to propose taking the company private, an analyst said.
''Everyone is a target. No one is safe,'' casino industry analyst Eugene Christiansen told Bloomberg News. ``That might be in their minds.''
But before the deal closes, the Bahamas-based company will seek better offers. Investors quickly began betting on other suitors. Kerzner International stock climbed to $79.43 on Monday -- almost $4 more than the partnership offered to pay for shares in the acquisition.
The Kerzner family would become the top shareholder in the private company, according to an executive close to the deal, and the father-and-son team of Sol and Butch Kerzner would retain their jobs as chairman and chief executive.

Mississippi dolphins flourishing in new Bahamas home

The 17 dolphins moved from a Gulfport marine park to a resort in the Bahamas appear to be flourishing in their new environment, their caretakers say.

The dolphins were removed from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the facility in August and swept several of the dolphins out to the Gulf of Mexico. They were later rescued.

The dolphins have adapted to their new environment at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and they have access to a huge amount of space, said Frank Murru, chief marine officer for Kerzner International, which owns Atlantis Resort.

"These dolphins are doing fantastic," said David Lion, president of Gulfport's Marine Animal Productions, which owns the dolphins. "All the scratches and scars sustained in the hurricane are healing beautifully in the natural saltwater they are living in now."

Whether any dolphins will return to the Gulf Coast is unclear. Lion said Sunday that MAP is still evaluating whether to rebuild in Gulfport.

One dolphin - named Tessie - left behind at the Gulfarium in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., because she was ill, is doing better, said Stacey Coltraine, an animal trainer at the Gulfarium.

"She had a rough couple of weeks after Cherry left," Coltraine said, referring to Tessie's longtime poolmate who was taken to the Atlantis resort with the rest of the dolphins. "We had to have people in the water multiple days to give her companionship. Now she's definitely gotten used to Cherry not being there."

But Coltraine said Tessie has not physically fully recovered.

The rest of the dolphins are enjoying several interconnecting pools which have a total of about 1.5 million gallons of water, Murru said.