Bidding for Wembly racetrack heats up

LONDON, March 31 (UPI) -- A group called BLB Investors has made a bid for British racetrack operator Wembley PLC that trumped one made by U.S. casino giant MGM Mirage.

BLB Investors, which owns an 8 percent Wembley stake, made a bid that valued Wembley at about $522.3 million. BLB includes affiliates of Starwood Capital Group of the United States and Bahamas-based Kerzner International Ltd.

MGM Mirage of Las Vegas, which had offered $493 million, was expecting its bid to be approved at a special Wembley shareholder meeting April 8, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

But on Tuesday MGM Mirage, which owns the Bellagio, Mirage, MGM Grand and other Las Vegas casinos, was scrambling to figure out how much to raise its offer.

Wembley said it will talk to both parties and decide later whether to postpone next week's special meeting. But MGM Mirage executives were planning to respond quickly in hopes of keeping the meeting on track.

"We would like to see this over by April 8," said the person familiar with the bid.

BLB is owned by units of Starwood Capital Group, Kerzner International and Waterford Group.