Final panel gives OK for Harrah’s sale

LAS VEGAS Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. has tentatively cleared the last remaining regulatory hurdle to the largest casino buyout ever.

Harrah’s said Monday that the National Indian Gaming Commission has approved the company’s $17.7 billion purchase by private equity buyers Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group, pending final commission review. That conditional approval means Harrah’s can go forward with the deal, which is expected to close in early 2008.

No further regulatory approval is required.

Harrah’s and the buyers received the go-ahead for the deal last week from the Nevada Gaming Commission, capping a 10-week campaign to obtain approvals from state gambling regulators in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Mississippi.

Harrah’s, which had nearly $10 billion in revenue last year, operates more than 50 casinos including Caesars and the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas and Bally’s in Atlantic City.

Merrill Lynch & Co., facing steep losses from mortgage-related investments, said Monday it will receive a cash infusion of up to $6.2 billion from Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and U.S. money manager Davis Selected Advisors.

The investment will help shore up Merrill’s balance sheet, as the world’s largest brokerage faces steep losses amid the global credit turmoil. Deteriorating mortgage-related investments and corporate loans caused the biggest loss in Merrill’s 93-year history during the third quarter, as it suffered $8.4 billion of writedowns.

Temasek, a government-sponsored investment fund, pledged up to $5 billion and New York-based Davis Advisors will buy $1.2 billion of Merrill stock. The deal is the latest in which an ailing U.S. investment bank has turned overseas for additional capital.

Cerberus Capital Management L.P. agreed Monday to pay United Rentals Inc. a $100 million breakup fee for dropping its $4 billion purchase of the equipment-rental company.

Cerberus agreed to pay the fee after a Delaware court ruled the private equity firm was allowed to scrap the takeover, which it abandoned last month.

United Rentals has decided not to appeal the ruling, but requested that Cerberus pay the termination fee required by the merger agreement, it said Monday.

Cerberus said it agreed with the fee.

United Rentals’ shares rose 79 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $18.70 Monday.