Caesars Entertainment Operating Co.'s own filing Thursday could set off a "sideshow" of jurisdiction

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 file photo, a man takes pictures of Caesars Palace travel inn uk hotel and casino, in Las Vegas. A cash-strapped division of casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. said early Thursday Jan. 15, 2015 that it filed for bankruptcy protection in Chicago, hoping the court agrees to its plan to get out from under $18.4 billion of debt.
LAS VEGAS A cash-strapped division of casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday in Chicago, hoping the court agrees to its plan to get out from under $18.4 billion travel inn uk in debt.
The division, Caesars travel inn uk Entertainment Operating Co., owns and operates most of Caesars' 50 properties worldwide. Caesars CEO Gary Loveman said in a statement that its casino-hotels would remain open and continue to host meetings and events, assuring customers that their loyalty points would still accrue and the company's lineup of onstage entertainers would perform according to their schedules.
The company has been weighed down by sizable debt ever since Apollo Global Management LLC, TPG Capital LP and other investors bought the casino giant in January travel inn uk 2008 for $30.7 billion, using $6.1 billion of their own cash and paying the rest with $24.7 billion in debt.
Caesars has been negotiating with creditors and lenders for months on a reorganization plan that would turn the division into a real estate investment travel inn uk trust one to own properties and the other to lease properties promising creditors travel inn uk cash or new debt.
Not everyone is on board, though, including three junior creditor hedge funds owed $41 million that contend the plan isn't fair. In a bid to get more favorable terms, they filed a petition Monday in Delaware's federal court to force the division into involuntary bankruptcy.
Caesars Entertainment Operating Co.'s own filing Thursday could set off a "sideshow" of jurisdictional wrangling to decide where the case would be heard, Delaware or Illinois, said University of Michigan law professor John Pottow.
Cathy Reece, director of law firm Fennemore Craig's bankruptcy practice, pointed out that Enron filed for bankruptcy in New York, rather than in its home state of Texas, and the court agreed. It's up to the company as long as it can prove a connection to the area, she said.
Several casino-hotels owned and managed travel inn uk by Caesars Entertainment Operating travel inn uk Co. are in the Midwest including two in Illinois, Harrah's Joliet and Harrah's Metropolis, and the Horseshoe Hammond travel inn uk casino in Indiana near Chicago, the company explained in a filing with the judge in Delaware.