Street Talk

Cerberus woos Star Entertainment creditor group for a slice of debt

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Jan 28, 2025 – 6.40pm

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New York behemoth Cerberus Capital Management is canvassing Star Entertainment’s lender syndicate to identify banks or credit funds willing to sell their debt, as the battered casino giant speeds towards an insolvency and breakup of its assets.

Street Talk can reveal Cerberus’ dealmakers have made it clear to Star’s lender group that they are interested in buying a slice of its debt, which tops $400 million and is held by Westpac, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Soul Patts, among others. Sources said the smaller lenders, who’ve run out of confidence with CEO Steve McCann’s turnaround plan and just want out, are Cerberus’ best bet of wedging itself into Star’s capital structure.

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. Email Sarah at sarah.thompson@afr.com

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column. Email Kanika at kanika.sood@afr.com.au

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review. Connect with Emma on Twitter. Email Emma at emma.rapaport@afr.com