Harrah’s has last hurrah

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Casino company Harrah’s Entertainment held its last annual shareholders meeting Thursday before an agreed $17.1 billion takeover by two private equity firms that is expected to close later this year.

Shareholders met for less than an hour to approve directors and an auditor. Earlier this month, they approved a $90-per-share takeover bid by Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group.

Stuart Fine, a 68-year-old stockholder from Marietta, Ga., said he bought the stock when it was priced “in the teens” in the early ’90s and it will have gone up nearly six times in value by the time the merger is complete.

“This is the last hurrah,” he said. “I’m very happy.”

Harrah’s shares closed up 4 cents on Thursday at $85.44 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Several who attended the meeting wondered what would happen with the company under the new ownership, with some speculating that parts of the company would be sold off.

Chief Executive Gary Loveman, however, told those in attendance the buyout represented a “change of ownership, not a change of direction,” spokesman Alberto Lopez said.

With the acquisition of the Barbary Coast casino from Boyd Gaming Corp. in February, the company has said it has “essentially completed” its goal of assembling land on the Strip, of which it now holds 350 acres and eight properties.

It did not announce any details for a long-awaited master plan for the area.

Harrah’s is the world’s largest casino company by revenue, operating 39 casinos across the United States, including Caesars Palace, Bally’s and Paris on the Strip.

It also has interests in casinos in Canada and Uruguay and owns U.K.-based London Clubs International PLC, which operates seven casinos in the United Kingdom, two in Egypt, one in South Africa and is a consultant for a casino in Lebanon.