Star Entertainment has managed to avoid financial collapse for now after signing a deal to sell its stake in Brisbane’s Queen’s Wharf casino to its two equity partners along with other assets. Star Entertainment halted trading of its shares on Friday after a state-level casino regulator issued a damning report accusing the group of failing to clean up a culture of money laundering and fraud. Australia’s largest publicly traded intensity casino ethereum operator has been temporarily suspended from the country’s stock exchange after failing to lodge its annual financial results. Star chief executive Steve McCann has been negotiating to lock in a different package which would leave the company’s Queen’s Wharf complex in Brisbane with two Hong Kong investors. That deal is backed by alternative asset manager Salter Brothers and includes a $750 million refinancing.
An American Avantgarde casino instant play operator controlled by a New York hedge fund has joined the opportunists sniffing around embattled Star Entertainment Group, which is on its last legs and desperately seeking a capital injection to avoid administration. The casino operator warned that additional equity may be required as part of the refinancing of the DBC debt facility. Star first entered the deal with its the Hong Kong investors in early March, after months of warnings about its financial future — and prior to the bigger deal struck with Bally's and the Mathiesons. The Australian Financial Review reported that the company had failed to raise the funding required to meet near-term payments, including for payroll, which puts the company at serious risk of running out of cash. After a brief trading halt on Friday morning, Star shares plunged 15.4 per cent to 11¢, valuing the company once worth $5 billion at about $315 million. Star did not name the parties that are expected to provide an offer of financing, but it has confirmed previously that US finance giant Oaktree has tried to buy out Star’s debt from its lenders.
The published report states that it made a loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation costs of $27 million for the quarter to June 30, on revenue of $270 million. Star said Destination Brisbane Consortium (DBC), in which it continues to hold a 50 per cent equity stake, has a debt exposure of $1.4 billion. It now also remains exposed to $200 million of future equity contributions to DBC due to massive cost overruns at the $3.6 billion resort.
The European Central Bank has cut interest rates as expected on Thursday and kept the door ajar to more, even as a looming trade war with the US and plans to boost military spending drive Europe's biggest economic policy upheaval in decades. Tony Sycamore from IG has circulated a note that highlights how dire the price action has been on the stock market in recent weeks. ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said that while spending on goods pushed up overall spending in late 2024, a 1.5 per cent rise for services drove the January growth. The executive order creates a US digital asset stockpile but the US will not sell any Bitcoin deposited into the reserve.
ASIC has accused them of not paying sufficient attention to the risks of money laundering and criminal association that have financially crippled the casino operator with massive fines and gambling restrictions on its pokies. The Aus96 high roller casino operator also remains embroiled in legal challenges, with the financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC seeking a $400 million penalty against the company for alleged money laundering, in a court case that kicked off earlier this month. Star Entertainment’s major Macau-based investor has increased his stake in the company for a second time in a week, with the mystery businessman now owning almost 7 per cent of the struggling Casino hotel online phone support guide operator. More than 8000 jobs hang in the balance as teetering Oshi crypto casino self-exclusion operator Star Entertainment is on the brink of financial collapse, with its board in last-ditch talks late on Friday to find the cash needed to keep the company afloat.
She said if this eventuated the administrator would try to find a way to sell the company, or parts it that are unprofitable, and then see if it could continue in a smaller way to be successful. Mr Hughes said Star would likely look to shore up some of its stronger assets, including the Brisbane casino, ahead of the 2032 Olympics. Ensuring Brisbane's rocket casino live streaming tournaments doesn't become an "eyesore without tenancies" should be a priority as further doubt is cast over the future of Star Entertainment, a business expert says. In the job just eight weeks, insiders say he was stunned at the state of the company's finances and the contracts that had been negotiated over the Brisbane development by the previous board and management. Since their introduction in Sydney in September last month, with $5,000 limits in some areas, average daily revenue has dropped more than 10 per cent when compared to the previous four weeks. One of the key challenges highlighted in Star's belated set of accounts is the introduction of cashless gaming cards.
The Queen's Wharf joint venture development in Brisbane commands $2.6 billion of the spending with a 99-year lease and 25-year exclusivity period. Morningstar expects the extensive capital investment in Queensland to weigh on the near-term returns on invested capital. Further, we also believe the capital committed to facilities in Queensland might be disproportionate to the size of the addressable market. The company was forced to suspend its shares from trading on the ASX for weeks while it reviewed the report – which called its integrity to hold a casino license into question – and its implications for company financials.
The remaining funds will be paid either following a shareholder vote, or will be split into two payments before October 7. Bally’s, which operate’s 19 casinos across the US, will get a 56.7 per cent stake in Star. As Star’s search for a white knight steps up, a potential newcomer to the Australian gaming industry has taken a look at its casinos. Airtasker will look to expand rapidly overseas after a new capital raise and an expanded strategic partnership. DBC's total current drawn balance on the debt facility is approximately $1.4 billion.