Following on this earlier post regarding Houston-based restaurant company Landry’s search for acquisition targets, the Chronicle reports that the company’s target is probably a Las Vegas casino and not the Stros.
Landry ‘s is a national restaurant company that owns and operates 300 restaurants, including Joe’s Crab Shack, Rainforest Cafe and Landry’s Seafood House. Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta, who founded the company and controls about a quarter of the company’s outstanding stock, is the cousin of the Fertitta family that runs Station Casinos Inc., so the gaming industry is already in the Fertitta family.
What’s particularly interesting is that Landry’s is dipping into the junk bond market to fund its venture into the gaming industry. Last week, Landry’s priced its inaugural $450 million speculative-grade issue in the high-yield market last Wednesday, and the resulting 7.50% rate for the offering of senior notes due in 2014 was about 50 basis points more than Landry’s would have had to offer if it had a track record in the high-yield market. Nevertheless, wWith that kind of yield, Landry’s bond offering received a warm reception in the high-yield junk bond market.
Landry’s will use $300 million of the unrestricted proceeds of the offering to pursue its new acquisition and the remaining $150 million for restaurant operations. If Landry’s makes a deal for a casino, it is likely that it would return to the junk bond market for additional financing.
In addition to its junk bond financing, Landry’s is also arranging a new $450 million credit facility, which consists of a $300 million revolving credit facility and a $150 million term loan.
Finance market analysts are cautious with regard to Landry’s financing moves. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned its ‘BB-‘ rating and a ‘2’ recovery rating to the $450 million credit facility, which means that the expectation is that there would be an 80-100% chance of recovering principal in the event that Landry defaults on the loan. S&P also issued a ‘B’ rating to Landry’s $400 million junk bond offering, and an overall ‘BB-‘ corporate credit rating with a negative outlook.
S&P assigned the junk bond offering a rating two levels below the corporate credit rating because the junk bonds are subordinate to the of substantial amount of priority debt in Landry’s capital structure. S&P provided the following cautionary comment on Landry’s:

The ratings reflect Landry ‘s participation in the highly competitive casual dining sector of the restaurant industry, its growth-through-acquisition strategy, the inherent difficulties in operating multiple concepts, a very aggressive financial policy, and the high leverage that results from the recapitalization. These risks are only partially offset by the company’s established presence in the causal seafood dining sector of the restaurant industry, good locations for its restaurants, and adequate financial flexibility.