Bally to Skip Interest Payment, Halts Dividend Pending Review

Bally Manufacturing Corp. today suspended dividend payments on its common stock and said it will skip a scheduled Oct. 15 interest payment of about $18.4 million on first mortgage notes of Bally Grand Inc., the subsidiary that operates Bally’s Nevada casinos.

The company emphasized that failure to make the October interest payment on the 11.5% Bally Grand first mortgage notes due in 1996 will not constitute a default. The notes provide for a 30-day grace period.

Bally issued a statement saying its board of directors, at a special meeting, voted to use the 30-day grace period to conduct a “complete review of the company’s financial condition and operation with a view toward restructuring.”

“The board believes that it is in the company’s best interests to take these steps,” the statement said. “It fully intends to have the company’s Nevada operations continue as a viable entity.”

The company statement also announced several board and management changes that it said would “better enable it to explore and implement a restructuring.”

The board named Arthur M. Goldberg, a major stockholder, interim chief executive officer, replacing Robert E. Mullane, 58.