Crown receives new acquisition offer from Blackstone

Crown Resorts has received an AU$8.46bn (US$6.16n) offer from The Blackstone Group Inc to acquire all of the shares of the casino operator.

Australia.- Six months after making its last offer, The Blackstone Group has made a new unsolicited and non-binding proposal to acquire all of the shares in Crown at a price of AU$12.50 (US$9.11) cash per share.

In March, Blackstone, which already has a 10 per cent holding in Crown, offered to buy all outstanding shares in Crown Resorts for AU$11.85 cash per share. In May, it increased its original bid by AU$0.50 to AU$12.35.

Crown said it would assess the proposal and has not yet formed a view on its merits. Any acquisition would be conditional on Blackstone receiving final approval from the casino regulators in each of Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia (the Regulators).

Crown Resorts has received approaches from other companies, including rival casino operator The Star Entertainment, which made an unsolicited non-binding offer of AU$12bn (US$9.4bn) that it finally withdrew due to uncertainty surrounding the future of Crown Resorts’ casino licence in Melbourne. Crown Resorts was later found unsuitable to operate Crown Melbourne by Victoria’s Royal Commission.

Through a company filing, Crown Resorts said its proposal is subject to a number of conditions, including: 

• Blackstone conducting due diligence on Crown (covering regulatory, commercial, operational, financial, taxation, legal and accounting matters) on an exclusive basis; 
• Blackstone receiving final approval from its investment committees. Blackstone has stated that it has received the preliminary support of the global investment committees and Singapore investment committee of Blackstone; 
• A unanimous Crown Board recommendation and a commitment from all Crown directors to vote in favour of the Proposal (in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an Independent Expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the proposed transaction is in the best interests of Crown shareholders); and
• Execution of a binding Implementation Agreement incorporating various terms and conditions, including a range of conditions relating to Blackstone’s regulatory approvals and Crown’s casino licences. Further details of the terms and conditions proposed by Blackstone are set out in the appendix to this announcement.