Blackstone nabs former Australian Super chief executive Ian Silk to chair Crown Melbourne

Crown Melbourne has appointed the former guardian of Australia’s biggest pot of retirement savings, Ian Silk, to oversee the turnaround of its flagship casino.

Former Australian Super CEO Ian Silk will chair Crown Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Crown Resorts has tapped former Australian Super chief executive Ian Silk to oversee the operations of its flagship casino, appointing him as chairman of Crown Melbourne as it seeks to prove its suitability to hold a Victorian casino licence.

The gaming group – which US private equity titan Blackstone bought for $8.9bn, ending James Packer and his family’s decades-long involvement with the company, last month – has also appointed former NAB and Allianz executive Helen Silver and corporate turnaround specialist Henriette Rothschild as directors.

All appointments are subject to regulatory approvals and follow Crown announcing earlier this week it would open its gaming floor at its $2.2bn Barangaroo casino on August 8.

The trio will join Blackstone head of real estate Chris Tynan and incoming Crown Resorts CEO Ciarán Carruthers on the Crown Melbourne board.

The appointments come after the Victorian Royal Commission into Crown Resorts gave the company two years to prove it can become a suitable operator of its Melbourne casino. The near 30-year-old complex has been operating under a monitor in some of the widest intervention powers seen in corporate Australia, after the Royal Commission’s head Ray Finkelstein found the company has engaged in conduct that “was variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative”.

Crown Casino in Melbourne. Picture: William WEST/AFP

The company is facing a series of blockbuster fines, including a penalty of up to $100m from the Victorian casino regulator over “multiple breaches” of its responsible gambling obligations — including not “adequately supervising” at risk patrons — at Crown Melbourne.

Austrac has launched legal action against Crown, accusing the group of more than 500 breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws – with each breach attracting a fine of up to $22.2m. In a statement of claim totalling 863 pages, damning revelations included Crown dealing with patrons involved in sex slavery – one as late as November last year, a month after Victoria’s royal commission concluded.

But Mr Finkelstein did not recommend an outright scrapping of Crown’s licence – despite Premier Dan Andrews saying he wasn’t afraid to “tear it up” at the start of the Royal Commission – saying it “could cause considerable harm to the Victorian economy ”.

Instead, Stephen O’Bryan QC has been appointed as Crown Melbourne’s “special manager” until 2023.

In his first activity report, Mr O’Bryan said that “considerable further work“ was needed “to demonstrate the level of reform and embedded change the Finkelstein Royal Commission recommended”.

Mr O’Bryan also wrote that he was “encouraged by his early engagement with Blackstone senior representatives, who have indicated their commitment to the reform program”.

In a statement Crown said Mr Silk is “widely recognised as one of Australia’s most experienced business leaders, with deep expertise in governance, investment and risk management”. He oversaw Australia’s biggest pot of retirement savings as CEO of Australian Super from its formation in 2006 until his retirement last year.

Mr Silk remains highly involved in Melbourne life. He is a director of DJW Advisory, the Victorian Legal Services Board and Hawthorn Football Club and a special advisor to the Fiji National Provident Fund.

Crown Melbourne – which the Victorian casino regulator hit with a record $80m fine over the company’s use of Union Pay cards to illegally transfer funds from China – is also hoping to tap into the expertise of Ms Silver’s extensive financial services experience and her links with the Victorian government.

In addition to being a senior executive with Allianz Australia and National Australia Bank, Ms Silver is also a former secretary of the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet. Like Mr Silk, she has extensive Melbourne connections, being a non-executive director of ASX-listed PEXA, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as well as a trustee of the Victorian Arts Centre.

The final board appointment, Ms Rothschild is a partner at corporate restructuring advisory KordaMentha and previously was the chief operating officer of ASX-listed iSelect and managing director of Hay Group Australia/NZ, Japan and Korea. Ms Rothschild is also on the board of Brown Family Wine Group and the Richmond Football Club.

In a statement, Crown said Mr Carruthers, who has replaced Steve McCann as CEO, will join the Crown Melbourne Board as an executive director when begins his tenure in September, “subject to probity review and approval”.

The Crown Melbourne appointments come as the company tapped former Las Vegas Cosmopolitan CEO Bill McBeath to chair the group. It has also appointed former Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti as chair of Crown Sydney and former CEO of health fund HBF, John Van Der Wielen as chair of Crown Perth.