Packer increases Echo stake, plans Barangaroo casino
Crown Ltd, has doubled its stake in local rival Echo Entertainment Group – the owner of Sydney’s casino The Star.
Crown announced on Friday it has lifted its 4.9% stake in Echo from 4.9% to 10%, giving it an investment of more than $260 million.
Crown said it intended to acquire more shares if the New South Wales and Queensland gambling authorities lifted the present 10% ownership cap on Echo.
Crown boss James Packer has never hidden his desire to dominate Australia’s casino market and a successful bid for Echo would give Mr Packer control of all Australia’s casinos aside from two operations in Adelaide and Darwin.
Mr Packer said he was seeking board representation at Echo and the lifting of statutory caps to give him the opportunity to make further investment.
“We think the Sydney licence is one of the best licences in Australia,” Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie said. ”Sydney is Australia’s gateway as far as the rest of the world is concerned.”
Both companies announced strong December half-year results yesterday, showing that a combined $3.7 billion revamp of their major casinos has been enticing VIP gamblers from Asia – Echo reporting a net profit of $70.2 million for the six months to December 31.
And to possibly further dominate the casino-entertainment scene in Australia, Crown has announced plans for a $1 billion hotel and entertainment complex at Sydney’s Barangaroo.
Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph show concept studies for a state-of-the-art, 350-room hotel/casino on one of the last prime waterfront locations near the Sydney CBD, with panoramic views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
“Sydney needs Barangaroo, and Barangaroo needs a centrepiece that will draw the people of Sydney’s suburbs and international tourists to a world-class venue on our magnificent harbour,” Mr Packer said to The Daily Telegraph.
“Sydney deserves one of the world’s great hotels.”
Mr Packer said projects like the new hotel/casino were crucial to boosting Asian tourism. The hotel/casino would cater to high-end local and international clientele, with a retail precinct and a restaurant enclave fronted by big-name Australian and Asian chefs.
The plans show a harbourside high-rise hotel tower with a high ratio of suites to rooms. It would also have a rooftop sky deck housing the resort pool and a world-class day spa.
Under the terms of the plans, the proposed hotel would be located in Barangaroo Central. It would sit between Barangaroo South, where Lend Lease is building a commercial precinct and the proposed new Headlands park to the north.
Crown is also in discussions with WA premier Colin Barnett about transforming a government site next to Perth’s Burswood hotel-casino, which it owns, into a luxury hotel complex.
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