Crown Resorts completes US$300-mln Alon Vegas land sale

Jan 29, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World  

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Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd said in a Monday filing that its majority-owned subsidiary Alon Las Vegas Resort LLC had completed the sale of its interest in a 34.6-acre (14-hectare) vacant site (pictured) on Las Vegas Boulevard to a subsidiary of casino firm Wynn Resorts Ltd, for US$300 million.

Crown Resorts said its share of the proceeds from the disposal – a deal announced in December – was, after taking into account minority interests, approximately US$264 million.

In June 2017, Crown Resorts wrote down the carrying value of its investment in Alon to US$200 million; or US$176 million net of minority interests.

In May 2017, brokerage CBRE Group said in a press release it had been hired by Crown Resorts to sell the plot – that had been earmarked for a casino and hotel project named “Alon” – for as much as US$400 million.

The land is on the western side of Las Vegas Boulevard, opposite Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Encore.

When the Alon project was first announced in 2014, it had been due to be led by current Crown Resorts board member James Packer, and former Wynn Resorts executive Andrew Pascal.

Since then Crown Resorts – which had made a capital commitment to the project – has undergone a significant restructuring of its finances and business model, including a scaling down of its Chinese VIP gambling business following the detention in mainland China in October 2016 of several company representatives – and the subsequent conviction and jailing of some last year – on allegations of gambling-related crimes, understood to be a reference to marketing within mainland China of casino services.

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