VICI Properties Slides on News of Secondary Offering Worth up to $927.36M

Shares of VICI Properties (NYSE: VICI) slipped late Thursday after the casino real estate investment trust (REIT) announced a secondary share sale that could be worth as much as $927.36 million.

The Caesars Palace owner said it is selling 24 million shares of its common stock and underwriters have a 30-day window in which they can purchase up to an additional 3.6 million shares. VICI is pricing the offering in a range of $32.60 to $33.60, below today’s closing price of $34.02. Based on the maximum number of shares that could be sold at $33.60 apiece, the secondary sale could generate proceeds of $927.36 million.

The Company expects to enter into separate forward sale agreements with each of Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Citibank, N.A. and J.P. Morgan with respect to the shares of common stock covered by the offering,” according to a statement.

That quartet of investment banks are serving as joint book-running managers for the offering.

VICI won’t be directly receiving proceeds from the secondary share sale. Rather, the New York-based REIT will use the capital raised “in connection with or in furtherance of the ongoing business and operations of the Company, including funding the Company’s pipeline for the acquisition, development and improvement of properties, origination and funding of loans directly or indirectly secured by real estate, and other general corporate purposes, which may include capital expenditures, working capital and the repayment or refinancing of indebtedness,” it said in the statement.

The Mandalay Bay is one of the most acquisitive companies in the real estate sector gaming or otherwise. Last week, it announced for the property assets of four casinos operated by Pure Canadian Gaming Corporation. That marks VICI’s initial entry into Canada.

It also completed its purchases of the 49.9% of the Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip it didn’t previously own.

In addition to being the largest experiential REIT in the US, VICI is the largest landlord on the Strip, owning the property assets of Caesars, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and the Venetian, among other integrated resorts.

VICI has a history of to fund, and should the deal announced today hit the maximum number of shares sold, the REIT will have 1.024 billion shares outstanding, up from 997.37 entering today.

While the issuance of new shares is dilutive to current investors, VICI rewarded shareholders last year, as the stock soundly outperformed the broader market and the real estate sector at large.

It remains to be seen if VICI is active in 2023 as it was in 2022. But the last month of transactions sets the stage for more deal-making by the gaming REIT. In December, VICI announced the purchase of the property assets of the Fitz Casino Hotel in Tunica, Miss., and the WaterView Casino Hotel in Vicksburg, Miss. as well as financing for the Fountainbleu on the Strip.