Street Talk

Mathieson tabled $550m bid for Star Gold Coast (and was rejected)

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Feb 17, 2025 – 12.50pm

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Billionaire publican Bruce Mathieson attempted to acquire Star Entertainment’s sprawling Gold Coast property late last year with a proposal that valued the resort complex at about $550 million.

Of note, that is well above Star’s current market capitalisation of just $373 million. The proposal, sources told this column, came just weeks before the casino group admitted it was running out of cash and began preparing for voluntary administration by entering so-called safe harbour.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.