Crown board urge shareholders to back Blackstone’s offer

According to the company’s board, the sale would allow shareholders to avoid uncertainty.

Australia.- Crown Resorts’ board has sent out a letter calling on shareholders to support Blackstone’s proposal to buy the company, noting that the sale would allow them to avoid the company’s current uncertainty. It sent the letter after the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) said the Commonwealth Government has no objection to the proposed acquisition.

The letter says that the all-cash consideration of AUD13.10 (US$9.55) per share provides safety value for shareholders’ investments and avoids the uncertainties and risks associated with continuing investments in the business following multiple inquiries and scrutiny into Crown venues and their suitability to hold gaming licences. For the deal to go ahead, 75 per cent of all votes cast must be in its favour.

A week ago, in a decision similar to what happened in Melbourne, Crown Resorts was deemed unsuitable to hold a licence for its Perth casino. However, the company will keep its licence under stricter conditions.

In February, the board of Crown Resorts Ltd unanimously backed investment firm Blackstone Inc‘s offer to acquire all of the shares of Crown Resorts in a deal that values the firm at AUD8.9bn (US$6.36bn). The board determined that the revenue multiples would be in line with other casino operators in Australia and the United States and more than casinos in New Zealand, Macau and Singapore.

“NSW must reconsider the future of casinos”, transport minister says

Transport minister Rob Stokes has told parliament that New South Wales must rethink the future of Sydney casinos after its inquiry into The Star Entertainment Group.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Stokes said: “Now is the best time to ask the question: are the illusory and ephemeral benefits of Sydney’s casinos worth the proven harm – the deceit, the crime, the destroyed lives?”

He added: “Revelations of tax evasion also completely undermine the argument that casino operations are justified based on the revenue they provide to support wider social and community benefits.”