Wynn Increases Las Vegas Country Club Offer to $52.5 million

LAS VEGAS -- Rejected once in recent days, developer Steve Wynn has increased his bid for the Las Vegas Country Club, this time offering members approximately $52.5 million in exchange for control of the 36-year-old golf course and its amenities.

The club's board of directors rejected what it described as a "hostile" takeover bid from Wynn Golf division on June 18. That $40 million proposal would have paid the club's approximately 650 shareholders $50,000 per full membership and $25,000 per half membership, as well as erased approximately $7 million in outstanding debt.

Wynn's latest offer would pay $70,000 per full membership and $35,000 per half membership, as well as cover the debts, said Denise Randazzo, vice president for public relations and advertising at Wynn Resorts, the parent company of Wynn Golf.

Randazzo said the latest offer was made known to the club board on June 29. The company asked for an answer by July 1, and when that deadline passed without a response, Randazzo said Wynn Golf began directly contacting club members the next day.

"After listening to the members, we took a look at the fair market value of the club and came back with an offer that we felt was very generous," Randazzo said Thursday.

Wynn Golf has since received "a sizable number of proxy statements" from club members who would accept the buyout, but Randazzo said she did not know how many such proxies have been received.

Wynn Golf does not posses the two-thirds majority, or 428 members, it needs to complete the deal, she confirmed. The $70,000 offer will expire Monday.

Dale Telford, general manager of the country club, said Thursday nothing had changed since the board's initial rejection of Wynn's offer. He declined further comment.

David Smith, president of the Las Vegas Country Club's board of directors, could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

Wynn's company has said it would continue to operate the club as an overflow golf facility for customers who can't be accommodated on another 18-hole course now being developed east of his Wynn Las Vegas megaresort. His offer promised to operate the course on a daily fee basis for at least two years, allowing current club members the chance to play on the same terms as the general public or on a discounted basis with annual, nonequity membership arrangements.