If you want to own a piece of Mastros, McCormick and Schmick’s, or Del Frisco’s Steakhouse, you’ll soon be able to.  Tillman Fertitta, the billionaire investor and owner of the Houston Rockets, announced Monday that he will take both his Golden Nugget Casino and Landry’s restaurant chain public. 

Fertitta is involved in almost every conceivable type of business that has suffered in the coronavirus pandemic.  Hospitality, fine dining, gaming, and professional sports, all brutal enterprises to be involved in when people have essentially been banned from staying in hotels, gambling in casinos or eating at fine restaurants.

Fast Acquisition Corp. said it will merge with Fertitta Entertainment in a deal that will give the namesake a 60% controlling interest in the new group.  Fertitta will stay on board as chairman, president and CEO, and the new company will be valued at $6.6 billion.

“I look forward to returning my Company to the public marketplace. After taking the Company private in 2010, we accomplished a lot. However, in today’s opportunistic world, I determined that in order to maximize the opportunities in the gaming, entertainment and hospitality sectors, it was preferable to take my Company public” Fertitta said in a statement. 

“After I compared the opportunities provided by a transaction with FAST, versus the traditional IPO route, it became abundantly clear that we could access the capital markets with more certainty and speed if we did a deal with FAST,” he added. “Working with Doug (Jacob) and Sandy (Beall) has been a pleasure, and I truly appreciate their time and contribution to this process. At the end of the day, the decision to do a deal with FAST was a no-brainer.”

Special acquisition companies like FAST, also known as SPAC’s, have been big players in the IPO market in 2021. In January alone, they completed over $26 billion in share sales.

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