Playing 'Connect the Dots'

(Take this bag of money and let me run my casino like Robert DeNiro did...)

For those who don't know who the Fertitta's are --you know, the people who own 90% 81% of Zuffa--  they made their family fortune through Station Casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Last year, the company filed for bankruptcy and while some expected a fight between creditors and debt holders to lead to a fracturing of the company, it now appears that a deal was made to keep the company together and move it out of bankruptcy (for more details go here).

The Las Vegas Sun reports on the Fertitta's role in the process:

It's expected members of the founding Fertitta family, along with Station majority owner Colony Capital of Los Angeles, would maintain equity stakes.

The Fertittas would make a substantial, but undisclosed, equity investment and the current management team led by Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Fertitta III would continue to lead the company.

Here is what MMA Payout wrote about that "substantial, but undisclosed, equity investment".

Note the "substantial, but undisclosed, equity investment" that the Fertittas will have to make in order to retain control of the company. The cash from the 10% sale of Zuffa LLC. to Flash Entertainment in Abu Dhabi might come in handy.

Just for an idea of how much debt Station Casinos is dealing with, the company's current liabilities were last reported at $7.6 billion out of which, $2.3 billion is unsecured bond debt with creditors itching to sue Station to limit their losses. That issue is still working its way through court.

So, to recap:
July, 2009 - Station Casinos officially files for bankruptcy in.
November, 2009 - Disputes begin to brew between the varying parties.
January, 2010 - Bankruptcy Judge urges negotiations between the parties.
January, 2010 - Zuffa sells a 10% share to Flash Entertainment, a direct subsidiary of Abu Dhabi.
February, 2010 - The disputes continue between the parties.
March, 2010 - Deal reached to move Station Casinos out of bankruptcy, which involves a sizable investment of equity from the Fertitta's.

There can't be anyway that the 10% sale of Zuffa, believed to be around $100 million, had anything to do with Station Casinos...That would just be crazy talk.

Crazy like a Fox!