A U.S. company has terminated its merger agreement with the Gateway Casinos and Entertainment Ltd. – which operates the Starlight Casino in New Westminster - that could have created a publicly traded company valued at nearly $1.5 billion.
Leisure Acquisition Corp. says in a regulatory filing that it "elected to terminate" the Dec. 27 agreement and plan of merger as permitted if the combination wasn't completed by Wednesday. It gave no reason for its decision, which comes as Gateway tries to recover from being forced to shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Starlight Casino remains closed. The City of New Westminster benefits from the casino being open, as a portion of the revenue goes to the city. The Starlight Casino benefited the city to the tune of $6,381,048 in 2016-17, and increased to a $6,782,928 in 2017-2018.
Under the plan, the special purpose acquisition company listed on Nasdaq was to be acquired by Gateway's parent GTWY Holdings Ltd., which planned to have a New York Stock Exchange listing.
The majority owner of GTWY is Catalyst Capital Group Inc., a private Toronto-based firm. Its managing director, Gabriel de Alba, is executive chairman of Gateway.
Gateway operates 25 gaming and entertainment destinations in British Columbia, including Burnaby and the Starlight in New Westminster, and Ontario.
- With files from the Canadian Press
