{"id":20571,"date":"2021-07-22T16:05:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=20571"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:20:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:20:30","slug":"crown-resorts-share-price-dips-due-to-possible-loss-of-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-resorts-share-price-dips-due-to-possible-loss-of-licence","title":{"rendered":"Crown Resorts share price dips due to possible loss of licence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crown Resorts&#8217; stocks slipped after Adrian Finanzio, counsel assisting Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission, said Crown Melbourne should lose its casino licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Australia.- Crown Resorts&#8217; share price has fallen after\u00a0<strong>Adrian Finanzio<\/strong>, the counsel assisting Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission, told the inquiry <strong>the casino operator should lose its licence<\/strong>\u00a0for Crown Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Crown shares fell by 1.7 per cent in trading on Wednesday<\/strong>\u00a0and are down more than 22 per cent since May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finanzio said that evidence against Crown Melbourne showed \u201cserious misconduct,\u00a0<strong>illegal conduct and highly inappropriate conduct<\/strong>, which has been encouraged or facilitated by a culture which has consistently put profit before all other considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said&nbsp;<strong>the company had put profits above legislative requirements&nbsp;<\/strong>and<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>could owe the state AU$480m (US$351.4m) in unpaid taxes. Crown CEO&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-resorts-announces-steve-mccann-as-new-ceo\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steve McCann<\/a>&nbsp;has suggested that the&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-resorts-underpaid-taxes-for-seven-years-inquiry-hears\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tax underpayment<\/a>&nbsp;stood at around AU$8m, but the figure could be significantly higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finanzio also said that&nbsp;<strong>Xavier Walsh<\/strong>, Crown Melbourne\u2019s chief executive, and former executive chairman,&nbsp;<strong>Helen Coonan<\/strong>, were not appropriate people to remain connected to the casino operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He told former Federal Court judge<strong>\u00a0Raymond Finkelstein<\/strong>, who\u2019s leading the inquiry, that if he decides Crown Melbourne should hold its licence, it must be \u201cplaced under strict supervision and should not be left to its own devices to implement reform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some analysts have suggested<strong>\u00a0the company should maintain its hotel and entertainment businesses<\/strong>\u00a0and allow a third party to manage the casino venue.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finkelstein was originally due to\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/victorias-royal-commission-extends-inquiry-into-crown-resorts\">release his report by August 1<\/a> but has ordered an extension to the inquiry up to October 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Could a possible merger with Star Entertainment be the solution?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One option for Crown could be to accept one of the offers from its potential suitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May, Australia\u2019s\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/crown-receives-acquisition-offer-from-the-star-entertainment\">The Star Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0<strong>made an unsolicited non-binding offer of AU$12bn<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>(US$9.4bn)<\/strong>\u00a0for Crown Resorts. Star Entertainment\u00a0said the fusion would\u00a0<strong>deliver between AU$150m to AU$200m of cost synergies\u00a0<\/strong>per annum with an\u00a0<strong>estimated net value of AU$2bn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/oaktree-makes-new-offer-for-james-packers-crown-shares\">Oaktree Capital Management<\/a>\u00a0has also made an offer to acquire<strong>\u00a0Crown Resorts. <\/strong>The company proposed an<strong>\u00a0AU$2bn private loan and an AU$1.1bn loan convertible into new shares<\/strong>\u00a0to be issued by Crown. In May, another bidder, <strong>Blackstone,<\/strong> upped its original bid from\u00a0<strong>AU$11.85 cash per share to AU$12.35<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crown Resorts&#8217; stocks slipped after Adrian Finanzio, counsel assisting Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission, said Crown Melbourne should lose its casino licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Counsel assisting Victoria's Royal Commission has recommended Crown Melbourne lose its casino license due to systemic misconduct and prioritizing profit over legislative compliance, leading to a stock decline for Crown Resorts. This development intensifies scrutiny on Crown's governance and leadership, while also highlighting ongoing M&A interest from entities like Star Entertainment, Oaktree Capital, and Blackstone.","focusai_entities":"Crown Resorts, Adrian Finanzio, Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission, Crown Melbourne, Steve McCann, Xavier Walsh, Helen Coonan, Raymond Finkelstein, Star Entertainment, Oaktree Capital Management, Blackstone","focusai_location":"Australia, Melbourne","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"License Revocation Impact","query":"What are the immediate and long-term implications for Crown Resorts' operational footprint and market share if the Victoria Royal Commission's recommendation for license revocation is adopted?"},{"label":"M&A Valuation Shift","query":"How might the Royal Commission's findings and the potential for license loss re-evaluate the unsolicited bids from Star Entertainment, Oaktree Capital, and Blackstone for Crown Resorts?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,163],"tags":[23825],"class_list":["post-20571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-finance-news","tag-crown-melbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20571"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20604,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20571\/revisions\/20604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}