Fertitta Entertainment, the parent company of Golden Nugget/Landry’s and FAST Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, have entered into a definitive merger agreement that will see Fertitta Entertainment go public.
Billionaire owner Tilman Fertitta had already taken Golden Nugget Online Gaming (GNOG) public earlier this year.
Now, Feritta will become the largest shareholder with an approximate 60% interest in Fertitta Entertainment, with stock valued upon closing of the transaction in excess of $2bn.
Fertitta will continue to lead the company, with the transaction also including voting control and ownership of approximately 31 million shares, nearly half of all outstanding shares, in GNOG.
Fertitta said: “I look forward to returning my company to the public marketplace. After taking the company private in 2010, we accomplished a lot.
"However, in today’s opportunistic world, I determined that to maximize the opportunities in the gaming, entertainment and hospitality sectors, it was preferable to take my company public.
"We first began to explore going public in 2019, as we saw tremendous M&A deals hitting the market.
"However, the pandemic set these efforts back. FAST provided us with the perfect merger vehicle to allow us to take control of an already existing public company."
