Blackstone Looks To Buy Australian Casino Operator

Blackstone Group made a takeover offer for Australian casino operator Crown Resorts valued at US$6 billion, as regulators investigate Crown’s business practices and threaten to rescind its casinos licenses, reported Wall Street Journal.

The US investment firm has offered AU$11.85 (US$9.50) a share for Crown, a 20% premium to its closing share price last week, Crown said Monday. The deal is conditional on Australian gambling regulators allowing Blackstone to own and operate Crown casinos in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

Crown said its board hasn’t yet decided whether to back the deal and will start assessing Blackstone’s offer. Blackstone, which already owns a nearly 10% stake in Crown, confirmed that it submitted the proposal. Blackstone already has real-estate assets in Australia and a gaming footprint in other countries, including the Cosmopolitan casino and resort in Las Vegas.

The offer comes at a precarious time for Crown. Last month, an inquiry set up by the gambling regulator in New South Wales state determined Crown isn’t suitable to operate a new casino on Sydney’s waterfront.

Crown has spent roughly US$1.6 billion on the sparkling new skyscraper that includes hotel rooms and residences aside from the VIP-only casino. Officials in Victoria and Western Australia states, where Crown also operates casinos, have opened their own investigations into whether Crown remains suitable to operate casinos there.

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