A billionaire's reported move to buy up some of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's debt just might be a good opportunity - for the investor, a ratings analyst said Thursday.

Leon Black, who heads up Apollo Management L.P. of New York City, has been buying up the tribe's debt, the New York Post said Tuesday. Both the tribe and a spokeswoman for Apollo declined comment on the report Thursday.

The tribe owns Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand at Foxwoods on Mashantucket tribal land in Ledyard.

At Standard & Poor's, Managing Director Craig Parmalee said Black's reported investment is unusual, because it doesn't come with the same expectations associated with a traditional potential bankruptcy. That's because the tribe is a sovereign nation, and cannot be displaced from running the casinos. However, the maneuver could yield rewards for Black, he said.

"Often, when an investor purchases debt of a company who has defaulted, it's some effort to have a controlling position in a bankruptcy," Parmalee said. "In the case of a tribal situation, that is not possible, because you have to be the tribe to operate Foxwoods casino. So, my guess is (Black) may just look at this at a good investment.

"And it might create an opportunity for him to generate a return on his investment."

The implications of Black's reported actions for the tribe or the casinos are not clear.

According to the Post, Apollo bought Harrah's, a commercial casino, last year along with two other private-equity firms.

On Tuesday, the tribe said it expects to default by Dec. 16 on the balance of a $21.25 million bond interest payment that had been due Monday. While the tribe emphasized the continued efforts to restructure more than $2 billion in debt won't affect the casinos, it has not said whether tribal government or payments to tribal members could be affected.

And according to one financial source, a default on 8.5 percent notes would not necessarily cause the tribe difficulty because the distribution of gaming revenue to the tribe would not be severely restricted.

A day earlier, Standard & Poor's downgraded the tribe's rating from CCC to D, the lowest possible rating, while Moody's decided to abandon maintaining any rating for the tribe. Moody's said in a statement that the tribe "lacks adequate information to maintain a rating."

Tribal member Rodney Butler is now chairman of the tribe. Former chairman Michael Thomas was ousted after informing tribal members he intended to put tribal government and "incentive" payments to members ahead of payments to creditors. The move shocked financial and Indian communities and the tribe relieved him of his duties.

p.daddona@theday.com