Billionaire says Star turnaround job ‘too big’

The casino would have fitted well with the billionaire publican’s empire, but he decided against chasing the prize property.

Arthur Laundy at one of his pubs, The Bell’s Hotel at Woolloomooloo in Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

Property and hospitality billionaire Arthur Laundy eyed making a move on Star Entertainment’s flagship Sydney property but decided against committing, declaring fixing up the embattled casino was too big a job.

The revelation comes as the casino empire teeters on the brink and advisers work on eleventh-hour rescue plans which could see the company sell off key assets, including its hotels.

If the pub mogul, who turns 84 in a few weeks, was a bit younger he would have made a major play for the embattled Star Casino.

The Richlister, who is conservatively worth $1.6bn and controls more than 90 pubs and hotels on the eastern seaboard including the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast and the Sofitel Noosa, says he took a good look at the casino but decided to walk away after talking to lawyers about its multitude of problems.

“When I started looking at it with interest I started talking to lawyers and as I got in deeper I realised it’s too big a job, and too much for my kids. If I was a bit younger I might be interested. But, it’s too big of an ask of my four kids,” Mr Laundy told The Australian on Wednesday night.

“When I first heard about it I was interested. But I was on the outskirts of it,” he said, noting the property would have fitted well with his holdings.

The pub baron has a long experience in tough situations in hospitality and helped turn the industry around when it was at a low point in the 1990s, and more recently he kept his pubs ticking over through the pandemic.

“It’s within my scope,” he said. “I thought that would not be a bad thing, but when I started talking to lawyers I lost interest. I’ve got kids, and they’ve got young children.”

“It’s just too big a job.’’

Sydney's Star Casino. Picture: Supplied

Interest from hospitality barons in key parts of the Star empire shows its individual assets remain attractive despite the pile of debt weighing down the company.

Selling off key assets could give the listed company much-needed breathing room to pull together a longer-term rescue plan to get back on track.

But, pub billionaire Bruce Mathieson Sr, who is also the largest single shareholder in Star with a 9.8 per cent stake, has indicated he is no longer making a play for the company’s Gold Coast assets.

He said last week he was not involved in any deal for the Gold Coast properties, despite having previously expressed an interest in them.

The Australian reported one of the down-to-the-wire “proposals” being considered is for Star to sell its hotels in Sydney and the Gold Coast and operate as a pure casino company.

The luxury Darling hotel properties on the Gold Coast and in Sydney are considered the jewels in the crown of Star and a sale would mean jettisoning some of the company’s most prized assets.

Unless Star’s directors have certainty the company can pay its debts, then administrators could be appointed to the company as soon as this week.

Star’s shares tumbled last Friday after it failed to deliver its half-year results, telling the market it was continuing “to explore possible liquidity ­solutions that might materially ­increase the group’s liquidity ­position”.

Star is fast running out of cash and in February said it was considering a potential $650m financial lifeline from US-based Oaktree Capital. Star also revealed it had been approached about the sale of its half share in the debt-laden Queen’s Wharf precinct in Brisbane to its Hong Kong-based partners, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium.

Mr McCann made pleas to both the Queensland and NSW governments earlier this year for tax breaks, but the approaches fell on deaf ears.

The Queensland government has been preparing for Star’s collapse, saying administrators will need to keep its casinos open to qualify for any future support.

The company’s shares, which have plunged 77 per cent over the past year, were suspended from Monday, as required by ASX listing rules, following its failure to lodge its half-yearly results.

Originally published as Billionaire says Star turnaround job ‘too big’