{"id":765,"date":"2025-03-24T01:14:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T02:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=765"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:10:11","slug":"star-investor-mathieson-supports-ballys-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/star-investor-mathieson-supports-ballys-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Investor Mathieson Supports Bally\u2019s Bid"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Bruce Mathieson is the biggest shareholder in Star Entertainment Group<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Prefers Bally\u2019s takeover bid to selling Queens Wharf assets to Hong Kong group<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Bruce Mathieson, the Australian businessman who&#8217;s the largest individual investor in Star Entertainment, is backing Bally\u2019s (NYSE: BALY.T) bid to acquire majority control of the embattled casino operator and is offering to make a financial contribution to that cause.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_329410\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-329410\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-329410 size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Star Entertainment, Star Sydney, ASX, Australian stock market, Bell report\" width=\"858\" height=\"571\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/star-858x571-1.jpg\"><figcaption>Star Entertainment&#8217;s namesake casino in Sydney. Investor Bruce Mathieson is said to be supportive of Bally&#8217;s takeover bid. (Image: Star Entertainment)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mathieson, 81, is reportedly more supportive of the Bally\u2019s $156.77 million offer to purchase 50.1% of Star than he is of the Aussie gaming company\u2019s deal to sell The Star Grand Brisbane casino resort to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/star-entertainment-clings-to-life-after-unloading-brisbane-casin\/\">Hong Kong-based firms<\/a> Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium. Various media reports indicate the billionaire businessman could be willing to kick in $31.35 million in financing to help Bally\u2019s execute a transaction for Star.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, it was revealed that Star agreed to sell the Brisbane casino resort to that Hong Kong investment group to land financing needed to keep itself alive. Three days later, Bally\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-makes-11th-hour-bid-to-save-star-entertainment\/\">emerged with a takeover offer<\/a> &#8212; one that would allow Star to keep the Brisbane gaming venue.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Mathieson Matters in Star Takeover Scenario<\/h2>\n<p>Mathieson and his family currently own 10% of Star\u2019s equity and they have approval from Australian gaming regulators to potentially double that stake. That&#8217;s to say, efforts by Star to keep itself alive, including a possible sale to a third party, likely need Mathieson\u2019s seal of approval.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>Shares of Star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/star-entertainment-halts-trading-stoking-fears-collapse-is-near\/\">have been in freefall<\/a> for months amid reports that creditors weren\u2019t expecting to be repaid, and as analysts speculated the company would likely burn through its cash reserves by the end of February, making it vulnerable to being placed into administration by the Australian government. That implies that, like other investors, Mathieson has likely been losing money on his Star investment. But a Bally\u2019s takeover could be the salve he\u2019s looking for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In January, Bruce Mathieson Jr., publicly stated that the family sympathizes with Australian retail investors suffering losses in Star equity, adding that the family hopes the gaming company will avoid being forced into administration. Reports surfaced earlier this year that Mathieson has been adding to his Star investment even as the stock tumbled.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s rumored that if Bally\u2019s is successful in its quest to acquire Star, Mathieson would garner an increased equity stake in the company and at least one seat on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-adds-two-directors-with-ichan-ties\/\">board of directors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Bally\u2019s Star Offer May Be More Attractive<\/h2>\n<p>While Star CEO Steve McCann is said to be holding talks with the Hong Kong investors, he may have no choice but to hear Bally\u2019s out. After all, the Rhode Island-based regional casino operator is making an offer with terms that allow the Aussie company to retain its trio of primary gaming assets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>As Bally\u2019s Chairman Soo Kim noted in a letter to the Star board earlier this month, Bally\u2019s had $171 million in cash on hand at the end of 2024 and access to another $620 million on an undrawn revolving credit facility, implying it can get a deal done quickly and without a need to head to capital markets to do so. It\u2019s possible that scenario becomes even smoother with a contribution from Mathieson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kim is the founder of Standard General, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/standard-general-wraps-up-4-6-billion-ballys-acquisition\/\">the hedge fund<\/a> that recently acquired Bally\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/star-investor-mathieson-supports-ballys-bid\/\">Star Investor Mathieson Supports Bally\u2019s Bid<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bruce Mathieson is the biggest shareholder in Star Entertainment Group Prefers Bally\u2019s takeover bid to selling Queens Wharf assets to Hong Kong group Bruce Mathieson, the Australian businessman who&#8217;s the largest individual investor in Star Entertainment, is backing Bally\u2019s (NYSE: BALY.T) bid to acquire majority control of the embattled casino operator and is offering to make a financial contribution to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":768,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions\/768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}