Centerbridge Partners boss invests billions buying debt

NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Centerbridge Partners founder Jeffrey Aronson said on Tuesday that he had been investing billions of dollars in the last few months buying assets from banks such as loans and high yield bonds.

Speaking on a panel at a conference run by the Wall Street Journal, Aronson said the selloff in loans and high yield bonds was technical, and that most of the debt of businesses it was buying had not experienced fundamental problems. He declined to elaborate on which companies' loans and bonds he was buying.

Centerbridge Partners is currently trying to seal a deal with Fortress Investment Group (FIG.N) to buy casino and racetrack operator Penn National Gaming Inc (PENN.O).

Aronson declined comment on the status of the Penn deal when asked about it on the sidelines of the conference.

Fortress and Centerbridge Partners agreed in June 2007 to buy Penn National for $67 a share, or $6.1 billion.

Penn said on Friday that the needed regulatory approvals wouldn't be obtained in time for a deadline of June 15 -- so it extended the end date of the deal to Oct. 13.

But any delay will cost the buyers a significant amount. In March, the company said the per-share amount will be increased by $0.0149 per day if the buyout is not completed by June 15. Based on its outstanding shares of 88.8 million, that equates to $1.32 million a day. (Reporting by Megan Davies, editing by Dave Zimmerman)