Following months of quiet discussions with potential buyers of some of its properties, cash-strapped casino operator MGM Mirage has agreed to sell its Treasure Island Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip to Ruffin Acquisition LLC for $775 million.

This move by MGM is alleviating concerns on Wall Street that the company will run into a liquidity crisis as it tries to shore up financing for its $11 billion CityCenter resort in Las Vegas. The company, controlled by investor Kirk Kerkorian, has been pouring cash into building its CityCenter that it co-owns with the investment arm of the Dubai government.

For MGM, struggling with declining revenues and billions of dollars in debt, the sale of Treasure Island - for $500 million cash and another $275 million in senior secured notes - comes at a critical time. On the other hand, Phil Ruffin Sr., the 73-year-old former owner of Las Vegas’s New Frontier casino ‘Ruffin’, is buying back into Vegas after having sold his previous venture at the height of the city’s real-estate boom.

Treasure Island has 2,885 guest rooms and suites, fine and casual dining outlets, and approximately 90,000 square feet of gaming space.

Dennis Forst, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, said that the deal should work out for both the parties. He added: “I think once CityCenter is completed, the company can generate close to $1 billion a year in free cash flow a year. That could go a long way to reducing the leverage on MGM’s balance sheet that has been bothering people.