Caesars Eyes Sale of Las Vegas Strip Hotel in 2022

Caesars Entertainment is planning to sell at least one of its properties along the Las Vegas Strip in 2022, according to comments made by CEO Tom Reeg during a call with investors this week.

“We are looking at selling a Strip asset, expect us to put that in motion in the early part of 2022,” said Reeg. “We expect to be aggressive on the refinancing front in 2022 to lower the cost of debt, and it should add up to well in excess of $5 billion in cash to deploy in 2022. Some of that will be spent in digital, and some in capital projects that drive ROI, but the vast majority will be used to pay down debt.”

“The playing field has been cleared with the Cosmo and Aria trades,” he added. “We should encounter pretty robust demand for a center-Strip asset that frankly may be one of the last to trade for quite some time.”

Currently, Caesars owns and operates Caesars Palace, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Flamingo Las Vegas, Bally’s Las Vegas, The Linq, The Cromwell, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood.

The news shouldn’t come as a major surprise as Reeg confirmed that Caesars would “be a seller of a Strip asset” as far back as two years ago when Eldorado Resorts agreed to purchase the company for $17.3 billion, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. However, any plans to sell were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Reeg mentioned in his comments to investors, several marquee resorts along the Strip have changed hands in recent months, including The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and the adjacent Aria and Vdara resorts.

While Caesars reported a net loss of $233 million in the most recent third quarter, Caesars’ Las Vegas properties posted net income of $272 million for the same period.