THE opening of Crown's glittering casino projects don't always go to plan.
Chinese gamblers have complained that the six-star Crown Macau on Taipa Island has bad feng shui that hinders their luck. To fix this, Crown had an external water feature fitted at the casino entrance, but the fountain has needed constant repairs.
It's a similar story in the US, where James Packer's planned $US5.6 billion ($A6.3 billion) Crown Las Vegas has fallen foul of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA says Crown's 576-metre hotel-casino would be a hazard to air traffic, and has capped the height at 324 metres. Crown Las Vegas, a partnership between Crown, New York-based private equity firm York Capital Management and Texas-based IDM Properties, has another week to appeal against the decision.
So it must have been with some trepidation that Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie ventured to Canada for the opening of the $C100 million ($A112 million) Starlight Casino in Vancouver.
Starlight is operated by Gateway Casinos and Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of New World Gaming Partners - a 50:50 venture between Crown and Macquarie Group. Thankfully, this time it all went to plan.
"This is a high-quality, full-service gaming and entertainment venue for local Vancouver customers," Craigie said. "The Gateway team have done a great job to deliver this excellent facility."
The Starlight Casino has more than 6500 square metres of gaming space, including 850 poker machines, 45 gaming tables and a poker room, and will employ 800 people. A 450-seat Chinese restaurant and 1000-seat sports bar will open in the new year.
Gateway's second Canadian casino project, The Grand Villa Casino, will open next year.
While much of the hoopla at Crown focused on the newly acquired Canadian ventures, the company also released details of its board shareholdings.
Few of the directors have any direct holdings at this stage, with the notable exception of former PBL chief executive John Alexander. He has 1,783,500 ordinary shares, which closed trading at $13.79. That's a tidy $24.59 million of Crown stock. There's another 29,000 shares in his super fund.
Christopher Anderson has 300,000 shares under the company's executive share plan. Richard Turner has 27,000 shares in his family super trust, and Rowena Danziger has 8876 ordinary shares, plus an indirect holding of 14,000 shares. Directors Ashok Jacob, Chris Corrigan, David Lowy and Michael Johnston are yet to see a share.
Aural assaults
THE corporate world has inflicted many horrors on the planet. Global companies have polluted developing nations, inflicted incomprehensible boardroom jargon and sent mum-and-dad investors to the wall.
But the greatest crime is, undoubtedly, the corporate anthem. Full Disclosure has documented many over the past year.
The merger between Bank of America and MBNA prompted employees Ethan Chandler and Jim DeBois to pen One Bank, to the tune of U2's One. US law firm Nixon Peabody then inflicted its rock ballad, Everyone's a Winner at Nixon Peabody.
The lawyers were named in Fortune magazine's list of the best US companies to work for. The opening verse is: "Yeah, yeah, yeah/It's all about the team/It's all about respect/It all revolves around integrity/We strive for excellence/We strive for satisfaction/There's no confusion/No uncertainty."
Thanks to Full Disclosure's loyal readers, the list of horrors has grown. Other gems include the Compaq Rap, recorded by the board in 1990.
Ernst & Young has given the world a musical form - corporate gospel - thanks to the ballad Oh Happy Day. It includes the lines: "Oh happy day/When Ernst & Young/Showed me a better way."
Others include the tracks Ever Onward IBM, from the company's own song book released in the 1950s, the song Ahhhhh Fujitsu! and, a personal favourite, Ode to Sarbanes Oxley.
The brave can find a selection at www.youtube.com/fulldisclose. As a courtesy to colleagues, please use headphones.
Nailing it
IT'S not often a company goes from the garage to the sharemarket, but that's the precise leap Austofix Group plans to make in the new year.
The company started in the garage of Adelaide-based orthopedic surgeon Tony Ingman more than 14 years ago.
Dr Ingman noted that the only available nails for the human body were designed in Europe for the thigh and tibia. He adapted the existing product and developed a nailing system for the shoulder.
In Australia, the market for Austofix products is now estimated at $80 million. The company supplies more than 60 major trauma centres and hospitals around Australia and exports to China, Malaysia, Argentina, Ecuador, Israel, Bolivia and Syria.
Up to 3.3 million shares will be offered at $1.50 a share. |
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