ican gaming and casino operator Golden Entertainment Inc has today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC for a fee of $781m.

Under the terms of the deal, announced to its American investors earlier today Golden will also issue four million shares to American Casino’s current owner, the private equity fund Whitehall Street Real Estate Partners 2007, at a price of $17.05 per share.

Golden Entertainment group owns four casinos, 56 bars, approximately 12,000 gaming devices and 25 table games in Nevada, Maryland and Montana operating in over 1,000 different gaming locations all across the USA.

American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC owns three properties in Las Vegas: the Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower, Arizona Charlie’s Decatur, Arizona Charlie’s Boulder and the off strip Aquarius Casino resort in Laughlin.

In a statement announcing the deal Golden Entertainment Chairman and CEO Blake L. Sartini said: , “The American properties represent an ideal complement to our existing operations as they strengthen our presence in the Las Vegas locals market while providing us with an iconic destination property on the Las Vegas Strip.

In addition, given the recent investment activity focused on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip, we see future potential to develop the approximately 15 acres of excess real estate surrounding the Stratosphere. This acquisition supports our goals for growth in many ways, including the potential to use our increased free cash flow and financial scale to pursue distributed gaming opportunities in existing or potential new markets.”