Twin River stake purchased

Twin River stake purchased

A subsidiary of the New York private-equity company that owns the Harrah’s casino firm has notified Rhode Island it has purchased a share of the Twin River slot parlor in Lincoln.

Louis A. DeQuattro, a deputy director and legal counsel for the state Department of Business Regulation, confirmed this morning that an arm of Apollo Global Management — Apollo Twin River Holdings LP — notified the agency Dec. 7 that it proposes to acquire more than a 5-percent stake in Twin River, the minimum required to be listed as an owner of record.

Apollo Global Management specializes in searching out distressed businesses it can buy cheaply, straighten out quickly and sell profitably.

In 2008, it bought Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the Nevada casino operator that tried unsuccessfully to open a casino in West Warwick.

Apollo cannot acquire more than 5 percent of Twin River unless it receives approval from DBR, DeQuattro said.

Known for its hardball tactics and its expertise on snapping up struggling businesses, Apollo sought a wedge into the convoluted finances of the Twin River slot parlor earlier this year.

A proposal surfaced in the waning days of the last General Assembly session to require the DBR to accept bids for licensing from any entity that has a financial interest of 5 percent or more in Twin River. Rep. Donald Lally, D-Narragansett, introduced the bill at the request of Apollo Global Management.

At the time, the holding company that operates Twin River — UTGR Inc. — remained under federal bankruptcy protection. UTGR emerged from bankruptcy in November, when the state Division of Lotteries approved transferring the licenses needed to operate the Lincoln gambling hall to UTGR’s new owners.

A lenders group, led by two national banks and a Massachusetts investment firm, spent two years working to recoup millions of dollars it lent to the slot parlor’s previous owner, BLB Investors LLC.

The group wrote off $290 million in loans and pushed out BLB as it took ownership of Twin River. The lenders are led by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo /Wachovia and Sankaty Advisors, each of which owns at least 5 percent of the slot parlor as a result of the bankruptcy case. A number of other investment funds and banks own lesser shares of the slot parlor.

It’s unclear when Apollo took a share of the Twin River business, how it came to own its share or how much of the business it seeks to own.

DeQuattro refused to disclose which documents the agency received in support of Apollo’s request or when the agency received them, other than a Dec. 7 letter from the financial firm’s Rhode Island lawyer, Edward D. Pare Jr. at Brown Rudnick.

DeQuattro said DBR officials will review Apollo’s request but said it’s unknown whether agency officials will hold a public hearing on the matter.

Apollo Global Management, through a spokesman, declined comment.