Resorts International Accepts Trump’s Offer

Developer Donald Trump said Monday that he will pay $78.9 million for a controlling interest of Resorts International Inc., just weeks after halting an attempt to take control of another gambling and hotel company.

Resorts International announced that holders of Class B stock representing 73% of the voting power in the company had agreed to sell their shares to Trump at a net price of $135 per share.

The New York developer also agreed to make a tender offer for the remaining Class B shares at the same price, bringing the total value of the bid to about $101 million.

Resorts’ Class B shares traded at $130 Monday on the American Stock Exchange, up $7 from Friday’s close.

The offer from Trump, who last month dropped a takeover move for Bally Manufacturing Corp., matched the latest bid from rival Atlantic City casino-hotel owner Pratt Hotel Corp.

Pratt, which owns the Sands Hotel & Casino, made offers of as much as $150 per share to purchase Resorts. Its latest bid was for $135 per share.

However, analysts speculated that Trump won out because the family of the late Resorts Chairman James M. Crosby, who held the controlling interest in the company, believed he was more able to complete the massive Taj Mahal casino project.