West Australian identities are believed to be behind the reported consortium play for Crown Resorts’ $2.5bn-plus Perth casino complex.
There has been talk that John Poynton and Tim Roberts – son of John Roberts who founded the Perth-based construction company Multiplex (now owned by Brookfield) – have been trying to put a consortium together, but Poynton told DataRoom he was not working on a consortium bid.
The Australian reported on Friday that a Perth consortium in Perth may be looking at bidding for Crown’s Burswood operations.
Roberts has a family office known as Warburton Group with a mandate to invest globally.
Perth-based Poynton resigned from the Crown board in March as the representative of 37 per cent shareholder Consolidated Press Holdings, the private company of James Packer, following a critical report from the NSW regulator inquiring into money laundering at Crown’s Melbourne and Perth casinos.
He is set to appear as the first witness in a Perth royal commission into Crown on Wednesday.
Crown Resorts executive chairman John Alexander left in January.
Poynton founded advisory firm Azure Capital and Poynton & Partners and has held board positions on the ASX, Strike Energy, Fleetwood Jindalee Partners, Stavrianou and Azure. He is also on the Future Fund board of guardians.
The Crown Perth resort includes a casino, convention centre, theatre and two ballrooms, along with 32 restaurants and bars, a nightclub and recreational facilities.
It also features three hotels: the 405-room Crown Metropol Perth, the 291-room Crown Promenade Perth and the 500-room luxury Crown Towers Perth, which opened in 2016.
On Friday, Crown’s rival, Star Entertainment, told the market that it had withdrawn a $12bn merger proposal after a lack of engagement from its board and questions raised over its Melbourne casino licence.
Earlier, Blackstone launched an $8bn buyout proposal and US fund Oaktree Capital put forward a $3bn offer to fund the acquisition of James Packer’s majority stake.
Blackstone owns 9.99 per cent of Crown.
Its offer was rejected.
A break-up is now considered likely, but it is now hard to value the business given the uncertainty surrounding its casino licences.
Star had been offering $2.68 Star shares for each Crown share and a cash alternative offer of $12.50 per unit, subject to a cap equal to 25 per cent of Crown’s total shares on issue.
Counsel assisting at the Victorian royal commission into Crown have recommended that the company be found unsuitable to hold its casino licence, heightening speculation that it may need to sell the Melbourne casino.
The inquiry’s commissioner, Raymond Finkelstein, has said that one reading of the casino’s original agreement with Victoria is that it must be a Victorian-owned and operated entity.
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