Domino’s Pizza to boost stake in Iceland business, completes refinancing: Domino’s Pizza Group has announced developments which will strengthen its international operations and establish a more efficient capital structure. It plans to acquire a further 44.3% shareholding in Domino’s Iceland for €30.2 million (£26.7 million), taking ownership to 95.3%. It has also completed a refinancing with a new revolving credit facility of £350 million through a syndicate of seven banks. A further share buyback of £20 million to commence shortly. Chief executive David Wild said: “We’re really pleased to be increasing our ownership of Domino’s Iceland earlier than was planned. It’s a great business and after 18 months of partnership, we have good visibility of its strengths and further opportunities for growth. There is a strong financial and commercial rationale for buying out minorities now rather than waiting for the put or call option to be exercised. We’ve also reviewed our capital structure. It makes sense for a highly cash generative franchise business like DPG to have a balanced approach to equity and debt funding, and this is reflected in our revised target leverage range. The additional £20 million share buyback takes the total share purchases announced in the current year to £55 million and underlines our commitment to returning excess capital to shareholders.” Of Domino’s Iceland, it stated: “Domino’s Iceland enjoys a very strong market position and is the leading quick service restaurant chain in the country. It has the highest average weekly unit sales of any country in the Domino’s worldwide system. Iceland offers opportunities for further growth through new store openings and the benefits of DPG’s expertise, particularly in digital and supply chain. Through this agreement we are pre-empting the put and call agreements on the majority of the shares not already owned by DPG which would otherwise be exercisable between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020. We believe that the acquisition enables DPG to acquire the shares at a lower price than under the put and call agreements. In addition, the Acquisition will give DPG increased flexibility in running the business. Certain existing minority shareholder veto rights, including approval for decisions on the timing and implementation of improvements to digital marketing and supply chain, will be removed as a result of the acquisition. For the 52 weeks ended 25 December 2016, Domino’s Iceland generated on a standalone basis, sales of approximately ISK 5,026 million, and a profit before tax of approximately ISK 340 million (£2.4 million).”

Wynn Resorts boosts Las Vegas land-bank: Wynn Resorts has announced it has reached an agreement to purchase approximately 38 acres of land on the Las Vegas Strip directly across from Wynn Las Vegas. The purchase includes the 34 acre site of the former New Frontier, formerly the Alon Resort site, as well as 4 additional acres connected to the site for a total of $336 million. The agreement completes a unique assembly of contiguous real estate of approximately 280 acres that spans from the Las Vegas Convention Center on Paradise Road from the east, to Industrial Road on the west. The combined frontage on the Las Vegas Strip is over 3,500 feet, including rights to approximately 1,000 acre feet of water. It is adjacent to nearly six million square feet of convention and exhibition space. The average cost of the full assembly of 280 acres is less than $3 million per acre. The future development of the land will further change tourist visitation patterns in Las Vegas drawing more visitors to the north end of Las Vegas Blvd and its collection of luxury resorts, including the existing Wynn Las Vegas and the Paradise Park development slated to begin construction in January 2018 on the site of the former Wynn Golf Course.