James Packer spends $200 million on Crown shares, sparks more privatisation talk

Gaming and media mogul James Packer has reignited rumours that he may be set to privatise casino giant Crown Limited by spending $201 million to buy another 3% of the company.

The move takes Packer’s stake in Crown to 43%, worth $2.86 billion. Shares in Crown have increased about 9% over the course of 2010, although the have fallen slightly over the last 12 months.

Packer’s buying spree has again sparked speculation that Australia’s sixth richest person could be positioning himself to take Crown private.

A report in The Australian suggests Packer has been examining possible privatisation plans for the last 18 months in conjunction with his friend and British gambling investor Damian Aspinall.

However, taking Crown private would remain a huge deal, even for a man of Packer’s resources.

Acquiring the rest of Crown would cost at least $3.8 billion based on Crown’s price, and probably as much as $4.5 billion once Packer’s pays a takeover premium.

Packer would need to secure a large amount of debt – or bring on board a co-investor like Aspinall – if he wanted to pull off such a deal.

Crown reported a net profit of $292.3 million in 2009-10, with revenue increasing 5.9% to $2.3 billion.

While Crown’s Australian casinos performed reasonably given the subdued state of the Australian economy, the company’s main growth prospects lie in the Asian gambling centre of Macau, which Crown owns casinos in partnership with Lawrence Ho’s Melco International.

Packer’s $201 million investment in Crown is likely to be seen as a direct endorsement of the Macau business, which is yet to post a profit.

Crown shares fell 0.2% in morning trade, although the broader market fell 0.6%.