Cash-crunched Star poaches another Crown executive

The troubled casino group has tapped another former executive from rival Crown Resorts as it attempts to rebuild amid a continuing crash crunch.

The Star Entertainment Group has appointed Mark Mackay as Chief Executive Officer of The Star Gold Coast

Star Entertainment has tapped another former executive from rival Crown Resorts as the embattled casino group attempts to rebuild its management team amid a continuing cash crunch.

Star said Monday morning that former Crown Melbourne chief operating officer Mark Mackay will head the company’s Gold Coast property, subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.

Mr Mackay, who was responsible for managing the operation and strategic direction of Crown Melbourne, had a previous stint as chief operating officer of The Star Gold Coast, then Jupiters Hotel and Casino. He replaces Jessica Mellor, who resigned in May.

Star chair Anne Ward said Mr Mackay has “a deep understanding of what it takes to run a leading integrated resort development and brings a lot of capability to this role.”

The Star said the appointment completes a new leadership structure of decentralised management across its three integrated resorts in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sydney.

The Star, whose shares have been suspended from trading pending the finalisation of a $300m refinancing package, has poached several Crown executives in recent months after losing a series of top managers including former chief executive Robbie Cookie, chief financial officer Christina Katsibouba and chief legal officer Betty Ivanoff.

Crown alumni now working at Star include new chief executive Steve McCann and chief operating officer Jeannie Mok.

New Star Entertainment CEO Steve McCann.

Earlier this year, Star launched a special jobs portal seeking expressions of interest from former employees of Crown, which in May announced it was slashing thousands of jobs. At the time it was offering relocation packages for certain roles, complimentary meals, discounted parking and career development, training, and courses via The Star Academy.

Star announced the sale of its former Treasury casino building in Brisbane on Friday

as it heads into a weekend of crisis talks with financiers amid a deepening cash crunch.

Star said it had reached agreement to sell the leasehold interest in the Treasury Brisbane to Griffith University for $67.5m. Net proceeds are expected to be $60.7m after settlement adjustments. The sale is rare good news for the troubled casino group as it grapples with costly delays at its new Queen’s Wharf project in Brisbane.

A cash crunch brought on by a loss of investor confidence following its failure to lodge its annual financial report on time is set to continue until new financing can be arranged.

At the same time, the release of the Bell II report by the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) into Star’s continuing regulatory failures had added to uncertainties.

The company has faced a perfect storm over the past week after a second inquiry by barrister Adam Bell SC found that Star was continuing to fail the standards required of a casino ­operator. The NICC’s major concern is now whether Star has the financial support necessary to keep its operations going. The third volume of Mr Bell’s report, which includes an evaluation of Star’s finances, has not been released to the public. It included testimony from restructuring partner Sebastian Hams, who was called in the final days of the Bell II inquiry earlier this year to discuss the finances of the group. Mr Hams has 20 years’ experience in large-scale restructurings, including that of Ansett and Virgin Australia. Star, which faces losing its Sydney casino licence, will need to refinance more than $1bn worth of debt over the next 14 months for its new Queens Wharf project in Brisbane Regulators would prefer a restructuring of Star rather than the appointment of administrator.

Originally published as Cash-crunched Star poaches another Crown executive