ANALYSIS-Time, and options, not on MGM Mirage's side

By Deena Beasley

LOS ANGELES, April 8 (Reuters) - MGM Mirage (MGM.N) is racing to beat the clock as it faces a deadline to restructure its finances and Wall Street fears it is running out of options to pull it off.

The once-thriving casino operator, which owns properties from Las Vegas to Detroit to Macau, has been looking to sell assets since late last year to avoid bankruptcy, but deteriorating Las Vegas property values have made outright sales less attractive than possibly mortgaging some of its properties or raising new capital.

As the recession takes a toll on gambling getaways, MGM, the world's No. 2 casino operator, has seen profits plummet and come close to defaulting on its debt.

Last year, Chief Executive Jim Murren said all options for the company were on the table as MGM maneuvered to trim its debt while completing financing for its $8.7 billion CityCenter joint venture on the Las Vegas Strip.

But analysts fear MGM now has fewer options for hiving off assets at prices above fire-sale levels.

The casino operator has talked to potential investors, including Los Angeles-based private equity firm Colony Capital LLC, which is mulling offering a mortgage to MGM that would be secured by a casino, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

"We believe MGM favors keeping its assets and offering them as collateral to its current lenders or new senior lenders as opposed to asset sales," Barclays analyst Felicia Hendrix said in a research note on Tuesday.