By Scott Murdoch and Himanshi Akhand
(Reuters) -Star Entertainment said it has received a refinancing proposal with potential to provide debt funding of up A$940 million ($592 million) and an A$250 million bridging facility in a last-ditch effort to shore up the cash-strapped casino group.
Australia’s Star has been navigating mounting pressures to avoid voluntary administration, and its ASX-listed shares have been suspended because it has not published half-year results.
The embattled company said on Friday it was pursuing other short-term liquidity initiatives as well because neither the bridging facility, entered with U.S. hedge fund King Street Capital Management, nor the refinancing proposal, with another lender, will be available to address its immediate requirements.
“While there is more to do to have access to the funding from the bridge facility and the refinancing proposal, these initiatives, together with the agreement to exit Destination Brisbane Consortium and expand our operations at the Gold Coast, improve our capacity to have a viable future,” Star CEO Steve McCann said.
The company said it would sell its 50% stake in its Queen’s Wharf project in Brisbane to Far East Consortium International and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises. The casino and hotel complex was developed for A$3.6 billion, Star’s website says.
It received payment of the first A$35 million tranche on Friday, Star said.
For years, Star and larger rival Crown Resorts, owned by Blackstone, have faced multiple inquiries into violations of anti-money laundering rules and subsequent legal actions.
Star has poured millions of dollars into compliance upgrades and new systems to restore its battered reputation and secure casino licences. Those costs and weaker consumer discretionary spending have hit the firm hard.
Star said in February it had received an A$650 million refinancing offer from U.S. debt investor Oaktree. It said on Friday that certain conditions of the Oaktree proposal have not yet been met and the offer has not been finalised.
Far East Consortium and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises will become the sole owner of the Brisbane venture, which has luxury hotels and restaurants and other amenities.
Star will, in turn, take on the investors’ 66.67% stake in a Gold Coast project in Queensland.
Far East said the deal was reliant on clearing regulatory hurdles, including obtaining consent of the Queensland state government, and foreign investment review approval.
“The Queensland government has not received any formal submissions to consider a change to the ownership or management of The Star’s casinos in Brisbane or the Gold Coast,” a spokesperson for the state attorney-general said.
A representative of the Foreign Investment Review Board was not immediately available for comment.
S&P announced on Friday it would remove Star from the S&P/ASX200 index on March 24.
($1 = 1.5873 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Himanshi Akhand and John Biju in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Subhranshu Sahu, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kim Coghill)
