Blackstone owns 10 per cent of Crown and major casinos in Las Vegas,Europe and Latin America.Credit:Bloomberg
The bid comes as Crown continues to reel from the NSW Bergin inquiry,which found it unsuitable to hold the licence for its new $2.2 billion Sydney casino,and faces royal commissions into its licences in Western Australia and Victoria.
Leading gaming industry lawyer Jamie Nettleton said a full takeover of Crown would address some but not all of the concerns gambling regulators in NSW,Victorian and WA had about Crown.
Specifically,it would address James Packer’s 37 per cent shareholding and what the Bergin inquiry called his “deleterious influence” over the company,and also answer questions about who should sit on its depleted board. But each state still needed to be satisfied Crown had put in suitable controls to address money laundering and other regulatory failures exposed in the inquiry.
“Some people will suggest that this is going to make the whole issue go away - it won’t,” Mr Nettleton said. “The real difficulty is that Blackstone itself still needs to go through probity and be very clear about what they’re going to be doing with Crown.”
Blackstone has already engaged with gambling regulators to seek permission to increase its stake above 10 per cent,but Mr Nettleton said approval for a full takeover would still take at least a year.
Five Crown directors and chief executive Ken Barton have resigned since former NSW Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin released the final report from her 18-month inquiry into the company,which confirmed reports inThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald that Crown facilitated money laundering and allowed criminals to infiltrate its Melbourne and Perth casinos.
Crown was set to open the gaming floors in its new Sydney casino in December but they will remain closed until it satisfies the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) it has reformed itself into being a suitable licence holder.