Magna weighing sale of tracks

Magna Entertainment Corp. is considering selling one or more of its racetracks in order to strengthen the company's balance sheet, the company's chief financial officer said Friday.

Blake Tohana, the CFO, declined to identify which tracks might be considered for sale, but said that the company's "focus will be on asset sales, which could include racetracks."

Earlier this month, Magna reached an agreement to sell Flamboro Downs in Canada for a total of $64 million in cash and assumption of debt.

On Friday, Magna released a statement saying it had revised terms of a $200 million financing package with MI Developments, the majority owner of Magna Entertainment. The new terms designate $34 million of that money to a slot-machine project at Remington Park in Oklahoma, in place of $77 million that had been earmarked for a slot-machine project at The Meadows in Pennsylvania.

Tohana said that Magna still planned to renovate The Meadows, but that it would need to raise money through different means, perhaps through a partnership with a gambling company or through an equity offering.