James Packer’s Crown Resorts is weighing a bid for The Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip.
Industry sources believe Crown will lodge an expression of interest for The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, a three-year-old casino complex owned by Deutsche Bank and located between MGM Resorts International’s Bellagio and its CityCenter resort complex.
Crown would not comment, according to the Brisbane Times, but sources close to the process said the Australian gaming giant controlled by Mr Packer would be among several entities lodging expressions of interest for the 3,000-room, 3.6-hectare resort, which has amassed losses of US$298 million since opening three years ago in the teeth of the recession.
Deutsche Bank inherited the property in January 2008 when on the eve of the global financial crisis it foreclosed on American developer Ian Bruce Eichner, who had defaulted on a loan. Getting it built and open ultimately cost the bank upwards of $4 billion.
The Cosmopolitan is expected to fetch $1.5 billion-$2 billion in a sale.
Mr Packer’s bid would mark his second attempt to crack the US market. The Crown chairman was badly burned by a big investment on the Strip made just before the financial crisis. He later described it as one of his biggest strategic mistakes.
Crown is a much stronger company now, though, thanks mainly to its 33% stake in Macau’s Melco Crown Entertainment, and the company is in an aggressive expansion mode, pursuing a $1.3 billion luxury casino in Sydney, a license in Brisbane and a $400 million casino hotel in the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo. The Melco Crown joint venture is slated to open a multibillion-dollar resort casino in Manila later this year. Japan is also in its sights, and Mr Packer and his Melco partner Lawrence Ho say they’re prepared to invest $5 billion in a resort either in Tokyo or Osaka.
RelatedPosts
