Some company assets may go private
James Packer has quit the board of Crown Resorts, four months after stepping down as chairman. He leaves amid speculation that the company, founded by his father, the late publishing tycoon Kerry Packer, may go private. Crown has been hard-hit by cascading revenues in Macau, where the company is heavily invested.
Packer controls 53 percent of the company, which is valued at AU$9 billion (US$6.5 billion). On his exit, he released a statement saying his private investment firm, Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd., “recently concluded a major transaction … (T)his also has assisted the timing of my decision.”
“I intend to devote my energies to a number of key development projects in Sydney, Melbourne and Las Vegas, as well as Crown’s online platforms,” Packer said in a statement. “I remain incredibly passionate about Crown and its world-class integrated resort business. Crown is my biggest professional priority and represents the vast majority of my net wealth.”
According to Reuters, Crown shares surged last month on reports that the company may return some of its assets to private ownership. Bloomberg News fueled the speculation, saying Packer is talking with private equity investors and pension funds about bidding with him for Crown assets. But Crown says it has not received such a proposal.
Crown Resorts Chairman Rob Rankin, who is also CEO of Packer’s private holding company, told the Sydney Morning Herald, “This is not an ending, but a phase and an internal transition. James will continue to have a very active involvement in Crown in his new role and as the major shareholder of the company. And, of course, as the major shareholder, it is open to James to return to the Crown board at some time in the future.”
Crown has a one-third stake in Hong Kong-based Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, which opened its $2.3 billion Studio City resort in Macau in 2015.
The Daily Mail reports that Packer is frustrated by the slow pace of progress on his planned $2 billion casino resort at Sydney’s Barangaroo, which still awaits government approval. “This is very personal for me,” he told Fairfax Media. “’It’s been a marathon process to get where we are in Sydney; we proposed the hotel almost four years ago and we are miles behind our opening date schedule. At our end we really want to get moving.”
