Power utility seeks liquidation of Atlantic City’s Revel casino

(Reuters) – The electricity provider for Atlantic City’s Revel Casino Hotel has asked a U.S. bankruptcy court to liquidate the casino, saying the latest deal to sell the shuttered property is unfair.

ACR Energy Partners – which built and operates an power plant for Revel because the casino could not raise the money itself – said a deal to sell the property to Florida developer Glenn Straub for just $82 million would leave the utility with nothing.

ACR said it was owed more than $12 million before Revel filed for bankruptcy in June, and the casino has racked up $20 million more in unpaid bills since then.

Revel’s handling of the case has saddled the casino with “tens of millions of dollars” of unnecessary costs and a bankruptcy loan that will leave unpaid claims from ACR and others, the utility said late on Wednesday in a motion to convert Revel’s case to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

The casino has “no likelihood of rehabilitation” and should be foreclosed under the control of a trustee, who could sell assets more quickly without incurring high administrative costs, it said.

The sale agreement with Straub is the latest so far after two other deals failed. The $2.4 billion Revel opened in 2012 with much fanfare, but it has never turned a profit and is now in its second bankruptcy.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gloria Burns is scheduled to hold a hearing on the proposed sale on Wednesday in Camden, New Jersey.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York. Editing by Andre Grenon)