{"id":20615,"date":"2021-07-23T14:54:49","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T14:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=20615"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:18:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:18:49","slug":"star-entertainment-withdraws-offer-for-crown-resorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/star-entertainment-withdraws-offer-for-crown-resorts","title":{"rendered":"Star Entertainment withdraws offer for Crown Resorts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Due to uncertainty surrounding the future of Crown Resorts’ casino licence in Melbourne, Star Entertainment Group has withdrawn its offer for the operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- Star Entertainment Group has withdrawn its offer to buy Crown Resorts following suggestions that the operator should lose its casino licence<\/a>\u00a0for Crown Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May,\u00a0Star Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0made an unsolicited non-binding offer of AU$12bn<\/strong>\u00a0(US$9.4bn)<\/strong>\u00a0for the casino operator. However, Adrian Finanzio<\/strong>, the counsel assisting Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission into Crown Resorts, has told the inquiry that Crown should lose its Melbourne licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finanzio<\/strong> said that evidence against Crown showed \u201cserious misconduct,\u00a0illegal conduct and highly inappropriate conduct.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Star Entertainment said: “Issues raised at\u00a0Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission into Crown Melbourne have the potential to materially impact the value of Crown<\/strong>, including whether it retains the license to operate its Melbourne casino or the conditions under which its license is retained.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Star Entertainment has withdrawn its offer, it said it would remain open to exploring opportunities<\/strong>\u00a0with Crown. It said it would continue to\u00a0closely monitor the Victorian Royal Commission\u00a0<\/strong>and Western Australian Royal Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crown shares<\/a>\u00a0fell 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

Finanzio<\/strong> told the Royal Commission in Victoria that Crown had put profits above legislative requirements\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<\/strong>could owe the state AU$480m (US$351.4m) in unpaid taxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said that\u00a0Xavier Walsh<\/strong>, Crown Melbourne\u2019s chief executive, and former executive chairman,\u00a0Helen Coonan<\/strong>, were not appropriate people to remain connected to the casino operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told former Federal Court judge Raymond 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Due to uncertainty surrounding the future of Crown Resorts’ casino licence in Melbourne, Star Entertainment Group has withdrawn its offer for the operator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Star Entertainment Group has withdrawn its AU$12bn offer for Crown Resorts, citing significant uncertainty surrounding the future of Crown Melbourne's casino license. This decision follows recommendations from Victoria's Royal Commission, which suggested Crown should lose its license due to evidence of serious misconduct and illegal activities, potentially impacting Crown's valuation and operational continuity.","focusai_entities":"Star Entertainment Group, Crown Resorts, Adrian Finanzio, Xavier Walsh, Helen Coonan, Raymond Finkelstein, Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission, Western Australian Royal Commission","focusai_location":"Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Western Australia","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":"Crown's License Future","query":"What specific conditions or governance frameworks would the Victorian Royal Commission impose if Crown Resorts were permitted to retain its Melbourne casino license, and how would these impact operational autonomy and profitability?"},{"label":"M&A Landscape Impact","query":"How does Star Entertainment Group's withdrawal of its offer for Crown Resorts recalibrate the M&A landscape within the Australian gaming sector, particularly concerning other potential suitors or asset divestitures?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157,158],"tags":[14657,1295],"class_list":["post-20615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news","category-slider-home","tag-crown-resorts","tag-star-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20615","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=20615"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20647,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20615\/revisions\/20647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}