Caesars Entertainment Corporation’s Board of Directors has increased its share repurchase authorisation to $750m of the company’s outstanding common stock. Since announcing the initial $500m repurchase authorisation on May 2, 2018, the company has acquired 23 million shares of its common stock, which equates to approximately 3.3 per cent of the company’s outstanding shares.
The purchases were made at an average price of $10.22 per share for a total of $232m. With this latest increase in authorisation, the company has $518m remaining under its repurchase programme.
Mark Frissora, president and CEO, explained: “The increased repurchase authorisation is a result of our confidence in the company’s operating performance and allows us to take advantage of current market dynamics and strategically return cash to shareholders. We have ample capacity to pursue our strategic growth initiatives and opportunistically execute the buyback. The Board and management are fully committed to increasing shareholder value.”
The company also announced that it does not have immediate plans to engage in a transaction involving its convertible notes. In June, the company filed a registration statement to exchange its convertible notes for the common stock into which they are convertible plus a cash payment. The company plans to revisit the transaction at a later date. It is still targeting a 4.5x gross leverage by the end of 2021.