Crown resort is owned by the billionaire James Packer. On Monday, he said that they would be accepting the Blackstone Group’s $8.9 billion for a takeover offer for the Melbourne-based casino.
The Board considered the Blackstone transaction.
According to Crown chairman Ziggy Switkowski, the Board has considered the offer and has agreed for the transaction. The transfer will be in the best interest of the Crown shareholders and will help in making things better. As there is no superior proposal, the Board is considering this proposal and is agreeing to take things forward with specific terms and conditions.
The company has been considering the offer for a long time. They backed the previous bid after Blackstone raised the request for A$13.10 for every share last month. According to Forbes, this will be the fourth time when the company has introduced a bid and offered for such a transaction. They have been trying to make an offer since the last march. The transaction will be completed after a shareholder vote in the second quarter.
Crown has been receiving several offers.
In past years, The Crown resort has been getting multiple offers. Finally, they have agreed on a proposal to help shareholders. They rejected the previous Blackstone offer. On the other hand, rival Australian casino operator Star Entertainment saw it as an opportunity to merge with the big brand name of the Crown. But the unit refused the offer and continued to search for better options. Even different requests from Oaktree Capital to fund the Packer’s stake also were not taken under proper consideration.
After the Australian regulators placed the Crown under the government-supervised reforms, there were different rumors about money laundering in the casinos. Blackstone used the opportunity to give another offer, and this time they raised an excellent takeover bid for Crown. The late request was about A$12.50 a share, and on the other hand, it was increased by a massive 4.8% in the previous month. The Crown board and management faced huge issues due to the COVID pandemic, and now by accepting Blackstone’s $6.3 Billion, they are finally making progress in countering the problems.