According to a Bloomberg story, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. is to open its $20 billion bankruptcy fight today, pitting creditors against the gambling company’s controlling shareholders, Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management and David Bonderman’s TPG Capital.
The first order of business: picking a courthouse.
Some stakeholders want the case heard in Wilmington, Delaware, where lower-ranking noteholders filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the main operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp. Jan. 12. They say the biggest creditors, and the parent company’s top executive, live on the East Coast.
Caesars filed its own Chapter 11 case in Chicago Jan. 15, bypassing the court in its hometown of Las Vegas. According to Bloomberg, the company’s main bankruptcy law firm is based in Chicago and has deep roots in the city’s legal community.
Each side has questioned the motives behind the other’s choice of venue, and the decision could make a big difference to Apollo, TPG and other insiders in a restructuring effort that has already spawned several lawsuits, the Bloomberg article notes.
To view the entire Bloomberg article, click here.