The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 28

1 4 Tuesday, August 20, 1 996 Rockland Journal-News Money lun International Hotels to buy owner of Resorts casino ter the market and set off competition for casino properties. The business is lucrative. Last year, 12 casinos won $3.7 billion from gamblers, up 9.5 percent from the year before. There are currently plans for six new casinos. The deal for Griffin has been approved by both companies' directors but still needs approval from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission as well as both companies' stockholders.

Sun said it is expected to be complete early next year. veloping marketing strategies, although he will hold no executive position at Sun. He has extended his existing agreement with Resorts for four years, which will include a role at Paradise Island and Mohegan Sun Resort. After the deal, Griffin will be one of Sun's largest stockholders with about 4 percent of the company. He also remains a big investor in gambling with a 16 percent stake in Player's International.

Terms of the deal call for Griffin stockholders to receive 0.4324 ing prices, the purchase comes to about $210 million. Sun will also assume about $147 million of Griffin debt and $55 million to $60 million of cash now on Griffin's books. That makes the entire deal worth about $300 million. Atlantic City is seen as a particularly lucrative place to invest in gambling these days. In January 1995, the state passed a deregulation bill that made it easier for companies to operate gambling facilities in the state.

That, in turn, prompted companies to en twice been through bankruptcy in efforts to restructure its finances. Today, it is one of 13 casinos in the city. It has changed its name to Merv Griffin's Resorts Casino Hotel and announced plans for a $200 million expansion to double its capacity. That will move ahead. "My role?" Griffin said at the news conference.

"Continuing what I have done, the entertainment aspect of it." Griffin mentioned television broadcasts as well as a role in de share of Sun stock for each share they own. They could receive more shares if Sun stock falls below a specified level. Griffin Class shareholders, a small group, would receive Sun stock at a ratio of 0.1928. Griffin's common stock was at $12.25 per share on the American Stock Exchange, up 37 V2 cents, before trading was halted yesterday afternoon when the deal was announced. Sun International's stock fell 12 V2 cents each to $51.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Based on Friday's clos in Ufa -4mj LI i i 1J Sir $399 Panasonic 27" TV I't' firs mm SAP stereo' TV plus bonus stand Universal remote, PanaBlack picture tube, 27G11. Reg. $449 Bonus" stand, Reg. $79, with any 27" TV priced $379 or more $279 Zenith 25" TV Stereo' sound trilingual menus 181-channel tuning, AV input jacks, high-contrast picture tube, sleep timer, CaptionVision ready, full-function remote. 2551.

Reg. $329 TV bonus savings event! Take an extra $1 00 off any projection TV Extra $100 off any 35" TV Extra $50 off any 32" TV Extra $25 off any 27" TV priced $359 and up Extra savings off sale prices iS9 COO see 900 '--ftaftii tfiWiiiiinflsftfjiiitfiTiiik wM- 1 A 1 1 9.99 Panasonic Cordless phoneanswerer Sound Charger Plus noise reduction, microchip greeting recording, 10-number speed dial. 4310. Reg. $149 yMMM pi The Associated Press NEW YORK South African casino developer Sol Kerzner announced yesterday he is buying Griffin Gaming Entertainment owner of the Resorts casino in Atlantic City, N.J., for $210 million.

Merv Griffin, chairman of Griffin Gaming and owner of 25 percent of its stock, has agreed to the deal. The TV personality will remain involved in entertainment at Resorts, the city's first casino. For Kerzner, the acquisition represents a second foray into the United States. His Bahamas-based Sun International Hotels Ltd. has announced plans to build and manage a hotel and casino called the Mohegan Sun Resort on tribal land in Connecticut.

It is set to open in October. "We have for some time expressed an interest in entering the Atlantic City market. It's one of the biggest gaming markets in the world," Kerzner said at a news conference, standing side-by-side with Griffin. "And so from our standpoint we have the ability to enter it by buying and merging up with Merv's company," he continued. "It puts us in business almost immediately." Sun's offer represents a significant markup for Griffin Gaming shareholders, close to double Griffin's closing price on Friday.

The deal was announced late yesterday afternoon. Kerzner's Sun already operates casinos in the Bahamas, including the Paradise Island resort, and has an interest in others in France. The Griffin purchase makes it the most recent to move into Atlantic City. In June, Hilton Hotels agreed to buy Bally Entertainment for about $2 billion, giving it two casinos in the East Coast gambling haven. Sun's designs on Atlantic City have been clear for some time.

Kerzner recently applied for a license to build a $700 million, project and was seeking the city's help to find up to 30 acres in the north end of town. He said in the long term that remains on the drawing board. But he made clear that the company's first priority in the area would be further developing Resorts. Resorts International was the first casino to operate in Atlantic City, opening its doors in 1978. Griffin purchased it in 1988 from controlling shareholder Donald Trump in a deal that included the unfinished Taj Mahal, which he sold back to Trump.

Resorts has New York honors Ochs The Associated Press NEW YORK The New York Times has a new address even though it hasn't moved an inch. As part of celebrations commemorating Adolph S. Ochs' purchase of the Times a century ago, the city renamed a block of West 43rd Street in his honor yesterday, changing the letterhead for a newspaper known to resist mere fashion and fancy. Forthwith: The New York Times, Adolph S. Ochs Street, Times Square, New York.

Ochs' leadership began on Aug. 19, 1896, when The Times published Vol. XLV No. 14,040, the start of an era that would see the paper rise from also-ran to institution. At a ceremony on the street corner, just steps from the Times Building at No.

229 West 43rd, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said the street sign would stand as a lasting "symbol of a man who created a great newspaper." 2 Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Ochs' great-grandson, said: "He taught us the lesson we still live by today, that great journalism is great business." Founded in 1851, The Times was near bankruptcy when Ochs purchased controlling ownership for $75,000 in August 1896. Inside, it carried a one-paragraph announcement that Ochs, of Chattanooga, had become publisher. In a signed editorial, he outlined his plans for a "high standard newspaper" that would "give the news impartially, without fear or favor." 1 He would soon launch the Sunday Magazine and the Saturday Review of Books and Art. Ochs coined the slogan, "All the News That's Fit to Print," which has appeared on the Times front page since 1897. He died in 1935.

It was under Ochs' stewardship that The Times moved to its present home in 1913, coming a block uptown from 42nd Street. Times Square, which was once known as Longacre Square, also takes its name from the newspaper. Ochs' first edition was just 12 pages, and the masthead looked remarkably similar to the one readers are familiar with today. $199 Magnavox hi-fi VCR On-screen programming unified remote $189 Panasonic price break VCR Plus with 4 video heads VCR Plus uses codes in TV listings to simplify programming. l-month8-event programming, digital auto tracking.

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tPut no money down, no finance charges win accrue during the deferred billing period and you won be billed until November or 90 days after delivery whichever is later. Deterred Ming is offer is available only for electronics purchases of $300 or more made on a Macy credit card account dunng this sale, subject to credit approval and is not available at Clearance Centers. Upon billing, purchases wiH be subject to the regular terms of your Macy account ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE: up to 21 .6 based on state of residence subject some states to a minimum monthly FINANCE CHARGE of Xt. tWith a TOP (Time Option Plan), you can extend your payments on electrones purchases of $300 or more when charged to your Macy's credit card account subject to credit approval. Actual minimum monthly payments may vary depending on the outstand ing balances, additional purchases, dates of payments and applicable finance charge rates.

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Sale ends August 21.