MGM Mirage sells $5B stake to Dubai World

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- MGM Mirage said Wednesday it approved a $5 billion deal for a Dubai company to buy 9.5 percent of the U.S. casino company and half its CityCenter project.

Dubai World, a holding company wholly owned by the United Arab Emirates' Dubai government, will pay $2.7 billion for joint-venture ownership of CityCenter, a 76-acre hotel, condominium and retail development set to open in 2009 in Las Vegas.

Dubai World, which also has a stake in Dubai's giant artificial Palm Islands and its World man-made archipelago of 300 islands in the shape of a world map, will also buy 28.4 million shares of MGM Mirage at a price of $84 a share, or about $2.4 billion, a premium of about 13 percent over Tuesday's closing price of $74.32 on the New York Stock Exchange, MGM Mirage said.

The companies anticipate the joint-venture deal will close by year's end and the stock purchase will take place next week.

MGM Mirage, controlled by 90-year-old billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, was reported to possibly be for sale three months ago.

Kerkorian's stake in MGM Mirage will shrink to 51.65 percent from 54.15 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported, but he will remain the majority shareholder through Tracinda Corp., his investment company.