Packer is in discussion to take Crown's assets private

Australian investor and philanthropist, James Packer's company are currently in talks with Crown Resort Ltd regarding a possibility of taking one of its assets private. According to a source, the investor is planning to give Crown's casino assets to private ownership as there are some third party investors interested with the casino.

According to Bloomberg, the discussion is still at its early stage and no details regarding the matter have been released to the public. According to the news site, companies interested with a stake in Crown's asset includes private equity firms and also pension fund who has been actively discussing the matter with Packer's Consolidated Press Holding Pty.

The speculation regarding possible stake buyout had caused the shares to surge high to close 10.5 percent higher causing the Australian Stock Exchange commissioner to query its price due to unusual market activity.

In response for the query, Financial Times reported that Crown, through a filing to the stock exchange in response of the query, said that it "was unaware of any proposal for a possible joint bid for Crown which is the subject of media speculation and Crown has not received any such approach from any party."

The Australian reported that previously, Packer had tried to take the resort private by selling it to the United States private equity giant, TPG. However, the $4 billion deal fell over last month as TPG withdrawn their interest.

Although the deal did not materialize, TPG is still on board with Packer for the Qantas airline as the firm had backed a company in support of Packer.

Besides that, Packer had also talked with Greenland firm, a Chinese property giant about possible privatization of Crown but the deal also failed. Greenland also fails to secure a deal to build a new casino in Brisbane in a joint effort with Packer after they face strict government regulation.

Besides privatization, there is also a rumor that the company could split into two. One company will handle the properties holding of Crown while others will deal with the management right of the company. The properties held by Crown includes a resort in Australia, Macau, and Philippines.

Crown's shares continue its momentum to continue to be traded at A$11.83 as of yesterday marking the company to a higher valuation. Packer is currently the biggest stakeholder in Crown Resort with 53.1 percent in stake of the company that is currently valued at $6.2 billion.