US casino firm goes bankrupt

Bloomberg

The petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed four years after its predecessor company failed, listed less than $50 million in assets and less than $500 million in debt, according to a petition filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, New Jersey.

Soaring debt

Nine affiliates including Trump Plaza Associates, Trump Marina Associates and Trump Taj Mahal Associates also sought protection.

An exhibit attached to the petition said the companies had consolidated assets of $2.1 billion and debt of $1.7 billion as of Dec. 31.

Trump Entertainment "has had a myriad of strategic issues to contend with over the last several years, and the current recession has certainly amplified those very same issues," Jonathan Galaviz, a partner at Las Vegas-based consultant company Globalysis, said in an e-mail.

Trump Entertainment, the owner of three casinos in Atlantic City that already have been through bankruptcy twice, missed a $53 million interest payment at the start of December, and a creditor-extended grace period to make the defaulted coupon payment expired yesterday.