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Taking a fresh look at an existing asset is benefiting the citizens of the Quapaw Nation – in the amount of $55,000 a day – you’ve got Downstream headed in the right direction.
Built in 2008, the Downstream Casino Resort features Las Vegas-style gaming and entertainment, plus a 374-room on-site hotel. The resort is a popular destination in northeastern Oklahoma, but had not been performing to its full potential.
Due to the casino’s heavy debt burden, millions of dollars were going to cover interest and fees on the bonds.
A change in leadership for the Tribe – and a new relationship with BOK Financial – began a conversation about how to manage and restructure the debt in a way that would allow the facility to provide more direct benefit to tribal citizens.
Quapaw Secretary-Treasurer Guy Barker said, “Tribal citizens wanted to know why the Downstream debt wasn’t paid off, and I knew they deserved answers – and action. So tribal leadership made this a top priority.”
Barker engaged with the team from BOK Financial and their experience in Native American gaming was matched by their dedication: the discussions around developing a new approach took months.
Recently, the company closed a $300 million syndicated credit facility for the Quapaw Nation’s Downstream Development Authority (DDA) to refinance high coupon debt. The deal allows the DDA to reduce their debt and realize the full benefit of this significant asset.
Under the refinancing deal, the Quapaw Nation saves around $55,000 per day in interest. The tribe is also able to make principal payments on its loan for the first time since the casino opened.
“This is a transformational transaction that will benefit Quapaw tribal citizens for generations,” said Jarrod Compton, Director of Native American Financial Services at BOK Financial. “We’re incredibly proud to be part of this transaction. We see the potential and the legacy, and we respect the Tribe’s commitment to working towards total debt repayment and being self-sustaining.”
Compton added, “We have an extensive knowledge of the tribal gaming lending market, and we leveraged our relationships in that space to put together a syndicate of banks that believed in the story just as much as we did.”
According to Barker, “BOK Financial was able to put together a transaction to manage debt in a way that will provide value to tribal citizens through programmatic benefits like scholarships, utility bill assistance, medical assistance, housing, emergency counseling services and more.”
“The BOKF team really sold me in terms of their confidence. They fostered trust and proved themselves to be a relationship-based banking team,” said Barker. “And at the end of the day, they believed in us when not everybody did. Nobody else was ready to sit in the trenches with us. They believed in us – and it was mutual.
“BOK Financial has been a steady partner every step of the way and played a crucial role in the success of this transaction. We are truly grateful for their support. I’m hopeful we are entering a new era of prosperity for the Quapaw Nation, and the future is bright for generations of Quapaws who come after us.”
To learn more about our services, visit bokfinancial.com/
About BOK Financial Corporation
Bank of Oklahoma is a subsidiary of BOK Financial Corporation, which is a more than $47 billion regional financial services company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma with more than $99 billion in assets under management and administration. The company’s stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the Global Select market listings (BOKF). BOK Financial Corporation’s holdings include BOKF, NA; BOK Financial Securities, Inc., BOK Financial Private Wealth, and BOK Financial Insurance, Inc. BOKF, NA operates TransFund, Cavanal Hill Investment Management and BOK Financial Asset Management, Inc. BOKF, NA operates banking divisions across eight states as: Bank of Albuquerque; Bank of Oklahoma; Bank of Texas and BOK Financial (in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri); as well as having limited purpose offices Nebraska, Milwaukee and Connecticut. Through its subsidiaries, BOK Financial Corporation provides commercial and consumer banking, brokerage trading, investment, trust and insurance services, mortgage origination and servicing, and an electronic funds transfer network. For more information, visit www.bokfinancial.com.
