Star Entertainment obtains debt waivers

The company also provided an update on subsides the Australian government has granted to pay salaries.  

Australia.- Star Entertainment Group has obtained two waivers from creditors to strengthen its balance sheet.  

The Australian casino operator said it has secured covenant support from its debt providers for two periods.  

For debt due December 31, it obtained a full waiver of its gearing and interest cover ratio covenants, while for its June 30 2021 debt facility, providers agreed to an amendment of financial ratios, resulting in enhanced gearing and interest cover ratio headroom. 

The group has also provided an update on government subsides it obtained to pay employees’ salaries during the pandemic while operating restrictions were in place.  

For the first stage of the JobKeeper programme, the company applied in April 2020 and almost 7,000 of its staff were eligible for the subsidy, which ended on September 27. 

For the following stage, which applies from September 28 to January 3, 2021, the company says about 3,000 Star Sydney employees are eligible. Employees from The Star Queensland and other group entities will not be eligible.

In this new stage, the company warned payments through the programme would be lower: dropping from AU$1,500 (US$1,071) per fortnight to AU$1,200 (US$856) or AU$750 (US$535) depending on the number of hours worked.