{"id":773,"date":"2025-03-10T01:14:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T02:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=773"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:10:11","slug":"ballys-makes-11th-hour-bid-to-save-star-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/10\/ballys-makes-11th-hour-bid-to-save-star-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Bally\u2019s Makes 11th-Hour Bid to Save Star Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Bally\u2019s offering AU$250 million in financing for embattled Star<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Regional casino operator believes its bid is superior to Hong Kong investor offer to buy Star Brisbane<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Bally\u2019s (NYSE: BALY.T) has swooped in with an 11<sup>th<\/sup>-hour bid to save ailing Star Entertainment, offering the downtrodden Australian casino operator AU$250 million in financing in exchange for 50.1% of its equity.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_322461\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-322461\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-322461 size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Star Sydney, blackmail\" width=\"858\" height=\"573\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/star2-858x573-1.jpg\"><figcaption>The Star Sydney. Bally&#8217;s is offering $AU250 million for majority control of the Australian casino operator. (Image: Star Entertainment)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The bid floated by the Rhode Island-based regional casino operator emerged just three days after Star agreed 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. As part of that deal, which would provide the seller with a much-needed financial lifeline, the buyers would take on AU$430 million in debt owed by the seller. In a letter to the Star board of directors, Bally\u2019s said it\u2019s providing \u201can alternative path\u201d to offer from the Hong Kong investors.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Bally\u2019s would underwrite the entire amount of the capital raise, but would be supportive of providing Star\u2019s existing shareholders the right participate in a significant portion of the offering on a pro rata basis,\u201d said Bally\u2019s Chairman Soo Kim in a the letter. \u201cTo be clear, we remain very open to discussing a larger transaction depending on our discussions with respect to Star\u2019s liquidity and capital needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\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<h2>Bally\u2019s Move on Star Not Surprising<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s not surprising that Bally\u2019s is making a move on Star because the suitor has an acquisitive history. In its current form, which includes 19 casinos across 11 states, Bally\u2019s was built on acquisitions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>Additionally, speculation surfaced last month that Bally\u2019s executives, perhaps including Kim, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-may-be-examining-star-entertainment-buy\/\">traveled to Australia<\/a> to meet with Star management and tour the company\u2019s gaming venues there. Star\u2019s holdings include its flagship, namesake property in Sydney as well <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/star-ceo-robbie-cooke-resigns-amid-suitability-probe\/\">the Star Brisbane and the Star Gold Coast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bally\u2019s views its offer as superior to the bid for Star Grand Brisbane because, as Kim noted in his letter to the board, there would be no financial contingencies because 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. That implies the operator can immediately inject cash into Star without needing to head to capital markets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImportantly, our proposal delivers more than capital: Bally\u2019s would partner with Star in deploying our significant operating experience in turning around casino assets and growing highly successful casino businesses globally,\u201d wrote Kim.<\/p>\n<h2>Bally\u2019s Has Signaled International Ambitions<\/h2>\n<p>Bally\u2019s has interactive gaming exposure in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, but all of its land-based assets are located in the US. The operator has previously toyed with the idea of expanding its casino portfolio outside the US, floating a proposal for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-chairman-kim-illuminates-company-position-on-japan\/\">a Japanese gaming license<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>In his letter to the Star board, Kim didn\u2019t mention the possibility of the target\u2019s venues eventually taking the Bally\u2019s name, but he was clear to note that should a deal be reached, Bally\u2019s would keep Star assets in place while bolstering those properties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cOur strategy for Star is built on the simple premise that keeping in place Star\u2019s current businesses, assets and platforms will provide a stronger and more successful business over time,\u201d wrote the chairman. \u201cWhile we understand the rationale for Star\u2019s recently announced transactions, we believe that our proposal offers Star and its stakeholders far greater value and operational flexibility, as well as the upside from retaining Star\u2019s current projects and other assets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-makes-11th-hour-bid-to-save-star-entertainment\/\">Bally\u2019s Makes 11th-Hour Bid to Save Star Entertainment<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bally\u2019s offering AU$250 million in financing for embattled Star Regional casino operator believes its bid is superior to Hong Kong investor offer to buy Star Brisbane Bally\u2019s (NYSE: BALY.T) has swooped in with an 11th-hour bid to save ailing Star Entertainment, offering the downtrodden Australian casino operator AU$250 million in financing in exchange for 50.1% of its equity. The Star [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":755,"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\/773"}],"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=773"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":775,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions\/775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}