Gaming Commission approves Apollo acquisition of Venetian, Palazzo

The deal could close as early as next week, according to officials with the New York-based private investment company.

The Nevada Gaming Commission voted 4-0 to approve the deal, with Rosa Solis-Rainey abstaining because her law firm provided unrelated legal work for Apollo.

Two hours of questioning

Commissioners spent more than two hours peppering David Sambur, co-head of private equity for Apollo, and his team with questions about the transaction, focusing primarily on any future role Apollo founder and former CEO Leon Black could have with the company, and on Apollo’s role as the owner and operator of Caesars Entertainment.

Black resigned as CEO nearly a year ago after it was disclosed he had associations with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. While Black still holds an 11.9 percent interest in Apollo, he has no controlling interest in the company, and commissioners concurred that Black’s association with the company was not a problem.

Commissioners added a condition to their approval that the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the commission be notified if Black attempts to nominate himself or an associate to Apollo’s board of directors. Sambur said Black has indicated he has no plans to return to Apollo’s leadership. Regulators would have the ability to call him forward for questioning if he did.

Major step back onto Strip

Commissioners also were not concerned about Apollo’s experience with Caesars, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly after its acquisition in 2008 at a time when the Great Recession was taking hold.

Apollo exited the market in 2019 after Caesars filed for bankruptcy, clearing the way for the current Caesars ownership group headed by the Carano family of Reno to take over.

Apollo, Sands and Vici Properties Inc. first announced the deal in March 2021. Under terms of the deal, Apollo would pay $1.05 billion in cash and $1.2 billion in seller financing in the form of a term loan credit and security agreement.

New York-based Vici, a real estate investment trust affiliated with Caesars Entertainment Inc., is paying $4 billion in the transaction.

Sands is exiting the Las Vegas market, believing that its financial future rests with its investments in Macao, where it is the market leader, and Singapore. The company also is focused on other domestic investments in the United States with prospects in New York, Florida and Texas.

Venetian President and Chief Operating Officer George Markantonis will become the CEO of the new Apollo subsidiary operating the property.

Focused on diversity

The new operators already have a track record for superior corporate governance.

Sambur said Apollo has been named one of America’s most responsible companies in 2021 and 2022 by Newsweek. Apollo’s portfolio companies have contributed more than $1 billion to charities and the company has pledged a 15 percent reduction in carbon emissions.

Apollo also is expanding its talent pool through two proprietary networks that give the company access to talent from historically Black colleges and to veterans through job boards. Sambur said he personally chairs a Pride Network board for the hiring of LBGTQ employees.

“It’s been very important to us to increase board diversity and I’m pleased to say that 35 percent of all U.S. portfolio company board members are underrepresented minorities and every one of our boards has at least one woman and one racial ethnic minority,” Sambur said. “While the board of The Venetian is not seated yet and obviously anyone placed on the board is subject to approval, it is our anticipation that five of the board members of The Venetian will be women and several of them will be racial and ethic minorities.”

Sambur also committed to better supplier diversity, agreeing to spend $1 billion a year to diverse suppliers across the company’s portfolio.

‘See you later’

Commissioner Ben Kieckhefer said that it would be a bittersweet departure for Sands executives but that he expects to see them again in the future.

“As a part of the more global discussion, this is not a goodbye to Las Vegas Sands operating in Las Vegas and on the Las Vegas Strip, it’s more of a ‘See you later,’ understanding that everyone makes their own private decisions on things like this.”

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Dr. Miriam Adelson, the majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp., which operates The Venetian and Palazzo.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.