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Icahn brokers ‘deal’ to save Trump Taj Mahal

By
Josh Kosman
Published Dec. 17, 2014, 10:16 p.m. ET

Carl Icahn is saving Atlantic City’s second-biggest casino, the Trump Taj Mahal, The Post has learned.

The bankrupt, nearly 25-year-old casino was scheduled to close its doors Saturday morning.

The move will save 3,000 jobs.

The union representing roughly 1,100 casino workers, which had been seen as a stumbling block to keeping the Taj Mahal open, is expected Wednesday evening or Thursday morning to execute a new agreement with management, two sources said.

Icahn, the billionaire investor who owns all of the $292 million in Taj Mahal bank loans, conceded Wednesday to the union’s demands to restore all work rules after earlier agreeing to restore just health care and some pension benefits, two sources close to the negotiations said.

The union, Unite Here 54, which has been operating without a contract since Sept. 15, got pretty much what it wanted with only hours left before a pre-shutdown deadline, sources said.

Icahn had been fighting to have the right to outsource some services, including non-union restaurant workers.

Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic CityAP

The union’s lone concession to Icahn was allowing him to pay pension benefits to a plan only tied to the Taj, and, perhaps, the neighboring Tropicana casino, which he owns, instead of one tied to several struggling Atlantic City casinos.

A Delaware court gave Icahn the right in October to toss the collective bargaining agreement. The union appealed that controversial decision.

In exchange for Icahn providing the cash to keep the Taj Mahal open, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney on Thursday is expected to propose legislation that will give the Taj roughly $150 million in tax breaks, sources said.

The hope is that the measure will pass both the New Jersey Senate and Assembly on Thursday. Companion legislation will allow the Meadowlands to merge with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, a source said.

Sweeney was not going to support the tax breaks until Icahn reached a deal with Unite Here 54, sources said.

Gov. Chris Christie, through his gaming czar, Jon Hanson, brokered the deal, sources said.

Icahn is expected to exchange his debt plus $100 million in cash, which is needed to operate the casino, for ownership of the Taj Mahal, sources said.

Trump Entertainment is the parent of the Taj and the shuttered Trump Plaza.

The tax breaks may make it easier for Icahn to repurpose the shuttered Trump Plaza, whose neighbor is a soon-to-open Bass Pro Shops.