Crown Resorts turns down latest Blackstone offer

Crown Resorts believes Blackstone’s US$6.16n offer doesn’t represent compelling value for its shareholders but invited the US fund to make another offer.

Australia.- Crown Resorts has again rejected an acquisition offer from The Blackstone Group. The US fund had made a third 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.

Through a statement, Crown Resorts said its board is of the view that the proposal does not represent compelling value for Crown shareholders. However, the Crown Board offered Blackstone the opportunity to “access non-public information to allow Blackstone to undertake initial due diligence inquiries on a non-exclusive basis so that it can formulate a revised proposal that adequately reflects the value of Crown.”

Provision of the information is conditional on Crown and Blackstone entering into an appropriate confidentiality agreement. Blackstone, which already has a 10 per cent holding in Crown, made its first offer in March, offering AU$11.85 cash per share. In May, it increased its original bid by AU$0.50 to AU$12.35.