GGRAsia – Crown Resorts increases notes offer to US$459 mln

Crown Resorts increases notes offer to US$459 mln

Mar 20, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd on Friday announced it has increased the size of its latest subordinated notes offer to AUD600 million (US$459 million) on the back of “strong support from brokers and institutional investors in Australia and Asia”.

Earlier this week the casino operator controlled by billionaire James Packer said it was seeking to raise AUD400 million to finance new projects.

On Friday, Crown said it has allocated AUD550 million of the new notes to brokers and institutional investors through the book building process. In addition, Consolidated Press Holdings Pty Ltd, Crown’s major shareholder, will take up AUD50 million of the new notes.

The company said the final size of the offer “will depend on the volume of applications received”. Crown, the operator of Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth (pictured) in Australia, said it would not proceed with a general offer.

Crown chief financial officer Ken Barton said the group was pleased with the “positive investor response”.

“Following the strong demand, we have increased the size of the offer and closed the bookbuild early with the margin set at the bottom of the indicative book build range,” Mr Barton said in a statement.

The firm will lodge a replacement prospectus incorporating the increased offer size by around March 25. The offer is scheduled to open on March 25 and expected to close on April 14 for securityholders and April 21 for brokers.