A GAMBLING MAN

Black moves to save rest of Caesars

Leon Black has 13 days to save the rest of his Caesars casino empire.

If the private equity mogul doesn’t convince a Chicago bankruptcy court judge by July 22 to freeze a lawsuit brought by creditors, he risks seeing two healthy Caesars units tumble into bankruptcy — a move that could cost him billions of dollars.

Black’s Apollo Global Management isn’t taking the threat lightly, sources close to the matter tell The Post.

It is scrambling to ink deals with creditors of its bankrupt casino unit — hoping the deals will convince the judge that progress is being made and that the creditor suit should be frozen until the reorganization is complete, the sources said.

“Caesars is trying to sign up deals with anyone who will talk to them,” a creditor said.

Apollo is negotiating a deal with a group that bought much of the bankrupt casino unit’s $ 5.2 billion in secondlien debt— which is trading at 27 cents on the dollar, sources said.

The whisper in credit circles is that the buyer is longtime Black ally John Paulson, the billionaire hedge fund operator.

Paulson did not return calls for comment.

The new creditor has formed a group of secondlien debt holders representing about half the loan— and stands ready to deal with Caesars, two sources close to the situation said.

The group has hired law firm Wilkie Farr & Gallagher and investment bank Greenhill, the sources said.

Caesars in January put its biggest unit in bankruptcy— but it has stumbled through the first fewmonths of its reorganization.

It has, for example, violated its structuring agreement by not obtaining an order for its disclosure statement in time, several sources said.

Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, which led a group of firstlien creditors owed $ 11.7 billion, is using that violation to negotiate for better terms, sources said.

Other creditors are also fighting Apollo for a higher payout— and wouldn’t mind seeing the entire Caesars empire tumble into bankruptcy. It would improve their chances of a bigger payout.

One of the creditors fighting Black is David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management. It owns roughly $ 1 billion of the secondlien debt and has sued Caesars’ parent.

Perhaps Black and coinvestor TPG Capital will offer equity in the healthy pieces of Caesars to creditors who agree to support its plan, sources said.

“I think that’s the only card they have left to play,” the creditor said.

If Paulson is indeed involved in Caesars, Black is lucky— the hedgie has a record of compromise.

In 2010, Paulson bought discounted debt in Apollo’s struggling Realogy, the parent company of Century 21, and reached an agreement with Realogy to swap the subordinated debt for new junk bonds, thus keeping Realogy out of bankruptcy.

Also, Paulson& Co. in 2010 bought equity in the same Caesars — helping Caesars reduce its debt and keep itself out of bankruptcy, at least temporarily. Paulson since sold the stake.

Caesars and Apollo declined comment.