Bond Rises to Three-Year High for Caesars

Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s bonds have risen to their highest level since 2013 after bankruptcy deal nears.

According to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the company’s $760.4 million of 10 percent second-lien notes maturing 2018 increased 1.5 cents to trade at 62.25 cents on the dollar at 12:14 p.m. in New York.

Caesars said earlier this week that discussions are continuing with major creditors and that “significant progress” was being made toward an agreement that would lift its operating unit out of bankruptcy.  Such a deal would allow the Las Vegas-based gaming giant to draw a line under two years of court battles that surrounded the firm and its controlling shareholders, Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital.

The operating unit filed for bankruptcy in January 2015, and since then the second-lien debt holders, a group that includes Appaloosa Management, have been the toughest holdouts in the restructuring talks. The creditors have been seeking a higher payout after the Las Vegas-based Caesars originally offered about $4 billion toward reorganization.

The company announced its latest plan last week and this would add about $1.6 billion for these investors, bringing the recovery to 65.6 cents for the second-lien holders. Other lenders and bondholders that would have to give up a portion of their recoveries pushed back late last week. The stakeholders must determine how to divide a $400 million payout called for in a new plan the company offered last week, people familiar with the matter said at the time.