2004, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts
Trump managed to steer clear of bankruptcy for more than a decade before having another run-in with Chapter 11 in 2004.
Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, a holding company for the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and a Gary, Indiana, riverboat casino venture, went public in 1995. It raised $130.5 million through an offering of 10 million shares.
Nine years later, the entity had brought Trump Marina and Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City under its umbrella, along with the Trump 29 Casino in California.
It had also accumulated $1.8 billion in debt and was facing stiff competition from the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, which opened in 2003. Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts filed for bankruptcy in late 2004.
Under the subsequent restructuring plan, the Associated Press reported at the time, Trump said he would reduce his stake in the entity to 27% from 47% and cut debt by about $500 million. He also said that the interest rate on debt would be reduced to 8% from 15% and the company would be able to draw on a $500 million credit line at 4% interest.
"I don't think it's a failure, it's a success," he said. "In this case, it was just something that worked better than other alternatives. It's really just a technical thing, but it came together."
The third bankruptcy didn't appear to bruise Trump's ego. At the end of the year, he said in an interview that the Trump brand was bigger than Pepsi (PEP) and Coca-Cola (KO) and emphasized that Atlantic City was just a drop in the bucket for him. "The casinos represent less than 1% of my net worth, OK?" he said. "I'm doing something that, frankly, if someone else did it, it wouldn't even be a story."
