Lender: ‘New’ Revel casino bidders are full of hot air

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Revel's main lender said Wednesday that purported new bidders for Atlantic City's former Revel casino are not serious and it wants a bankruptcy court judge to approve its sale to a Florida developer.

Wells Fargo & Co. wants Judge Gloria Burns to approve the sale of Revel to Glenn Straub's Polo North Country Club for $82 million on Thursday. The judge last month declined to approve the sale.

Wells Fargo says there are no other bidders who have put money on the table for Revel and that it cannot wait any longer.

"Faced with the imminent approval of a sale to Polo North, the objectors again fall back upon a tired and discredited argument -- that the court should deny approval because a `higher and better' bid that will solve these estates' many problems is mere days away," the company wrote in a court filing. "Simply put, no such bid exists."

The company has spent more than $64 million on Revel's bankruptcy case.

Attorneys for former business tenants at Revel insist new bidders are interested in buying the casino. On Tuesday, a court filing by former business tenants at the casino said Howard Milstein of New York and Carl Goldberg of New Jersey plan an $88 million bid for Revel.

But Wells Fargo says "no such bid exists." It cited widely reported interest in the casino by the Shomov real estate group from Los Angeles, adding that ultimately amounted to nothing.

"On March 4, four full weeks ago, this court expressly adjourned its consideration of the sale to Polo North in order to allow (objectors) then-purported `white knight' purchaser, the DTLA/Shomof group, time to assemble its bid. After that hearing, the DTLA/Shomof group quickly disappeared and never submitted a binding bid or terms that were in any way comparable to the Polo North (sale agreement)."

Wells Fargo said the former tenants and a power plant that supplies all of Revel's energy have failed to provide any information to back up their claims that a better deal is just around the corner. It also said it will not fund any further bankruptcy procedures suggested by the former tenants, calling them "a road to nowhere."

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