US private equity giant The Blackstone Group has completed its acquisition of Australian casino operator Crown Resorts.
Crown confirmed via a Friday ASX filing that it had implemented a scheme of arrangement with its shareholders, who have now received an amount of AU$13.10 cash per Crown share for a total consideration of AU$8.9 billion (US$6.5 billion). Blackstone’s existing 9.99% shareholding in Crown, acquired from Melco Resorts & Entertainment in April 2020, was excluded from the scheme.
Completion of the acquisition comes just a week after gaming regulators in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia all gave the green light.
As previously reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Crown agreed in February to the sale of all of its shares to Blackstone upon the US firm’s fourth takeover attempt.
Crown, which is still emerging from the impact of regulatory inquiries in all three states in which it runs integrated resorts, was last week granted permission to launch casino operations at Crown Sydney – some 18 months after first opening the property’s non-gaming facilities.