Tony Fung exits Casino Canberra for $52m as Oscars steps up

The Hong Kong mogul is selling the gaming asset for $52m to a local outfit that started as a single pub in Sydney three decades ago.

Canberra Casino is being sold to the family behind the Oscars Group.

The wealthy family behind the Oscars Group empire is taking a step up in the gaming world and has snapped up Casino Canberra from Tony Fung’s listed Aquis Entertainment for $52m.

The deal will see a private company controlled by the Gravanis family buy the casino from the ASX-listed minnow controlled by Hong Kong mogul who has shifted to the Gold Coast.

The billionaire Mr Fung is a big player is horse racing and breeding but retired as chairman of Canberra-based Aquis Entertainment in August last year saying the board needed to be independent of its major shareholder. Fung holds just under 90 per cent of Aquis.

The sale will see Aquis finally offload the property after years of trying to sell, with plans to exit the casino to the iProsperity empire assembled by the fugitive Michael Gu collapsing ahead of his 2020 disappearance.

That deal to sell Casino Canberra was priced at $32m in late 2018 but it was terminated in early 2020 as Aquis refused to give iProsperity more time to win regulatory approval to buy the property. Months later iProsperity collapsed and Mr Gu fled Australia.

Fung had picked up Casino Canberra from Casinos Austria for just $6.5m in 2014 and then pumped capital into it. The ACT government in 2018 rejected a proposal by Aquis to transform the casino and the surrounding precinct.

The company had in 2015 unveiled plans to outlay $330m on overhauling the Glebe Park precinct, including hotels, prestige brand shopping, and a new convention centre.

Fung is best known for dumping plans in 2016 to incorporate a casino in his controversial planned $8bn Aquis resort in Cairns.

The latest deal, via the Gravanis family’s Capital Leisure & Entertainment Pty Ltd, is conditional on Aquis shareholder approval and ACT casino and liquor licensing regulatory approvals.

The casino is Aquis’ main asset and a shareholder meeting to vote on the deal is expected to be held in late July or August.

The seller said in a statement that its board was “considering potential new business opportunities and expects to be able to provide an update to shareholders by the end of June”.

“The transaction provides considerable value to the company and its shareholders. It recognises the attractive operating performance of the business which has continued to trade well since reopening post the Covid-19 lockdowns,” Aquis chief executive Allison Gallaugher said.

Oscars director Mario Gravani said the company would “be working closely with Aquis over the coming months to satisfy the necessary conditions precedent with minimal disruption to the business and look forward to working with the Casino Canberra team in the future”.

Oscars, which started with a single pub in Sydney‘s inner west in 1986, now has more than 30 hospitality venues across NSW and is well-known for owning pubs, accommodation hotels, retail liquor outlets, and conference centres. Its business also extended chartered vessels, and commercial and residential developments.

The company is not alone is in making a move into owning casinos.

Rising pub magnate Sam Arnaout was last month reported to be splurging $70m on his Alice Springs casino in a bid to attract more international visitors to the Northern Territory’s second-largest town.

Mr Arnaout, one of 29 newcomers to make a debut on The Australian’s 250 rich list, is set to make the big investment just six months after he acquired Lasseters Hotel Casino for $105m.