Casino news source: Bloomberg - http://www.bloomberg.com
Packer to Build Australia's Largest Hotel at Melbourne Casino
By Tan Hwee Ann
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- James Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., Australia's biggest casino owner, plans to build the largest hotel in the country at its Melbourne flagship, tapping growing demand for gaming and tourism.
It will spend A$300 million ($267 million) on a 658-room hotel, the complex's third, Crown Melbourne Ltd., a unit of Sydney-based Publishing & Broadcasting, said in an e-mailed statement today.
Packer, Australia's richest man, is expanding in gaming after selling half his media assets to a buyout firm. He has led $1.5 billion of casino acquisitions this year, and the company in May opened its first gaming house in Macau through a venture.
``The proposed new hotel will target the international leisure market but will also focus heavily on the global conventions and conferences industry,'' Crown Melbourne said in the statement.
Publishing & Broadcasting fell 15 cents, to A$19.55 at 12:59 p.m. on the Australian Stock Exchange, extending this year's decline to 8.4 percent.
Crown applied for building approval and expects to start construction of the 658-room hotel this month. It will open in May 2010, and bring the total number of rooms at the casino to more than 1,600, the company said. Crown expects the hotel to accommodate 340,000 guests a year.
The company also plans to spend A$205 million building retail shops, upgrading an existing hotel and refurnishing the casino, it said in the statement.
Packer is planning to spilt Publishing & Broadcasting into separate gaming and media companies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tan Hwee Ann in Melbourne at hatan@bloomberg.net |
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