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Australia – Former Crown Chairman reduces share in company by five per cent

By - 30 August 2016

Crown Resorts’ Former Chairman James Packer has offloaded A$448m shares in the Australian casino group, lessening his ownership from 53 to 48 per cent.

The sale comes via Mr Packer’s privately owned company, Consolidated Press Holdings, and relates to about 4.8 per cent of Crown, which has been snapped by third party investors.

Consolidated Press said the sale was part of a financing strategy and comes after a settlement was agreed with his sister Gretal over a debt he owed.

Catherine Davis, Secretary of Consolidated Press Holdings and legal counsel for the company, said: “CPH remains deeply committed to Crown Resorts and is excited about the future for the company. The sale is being conducted as part of CPH’s financing and capital management strategy. CPH remains supportive of Crown Resorts’ recently announced initiatives to increase shareholder value, being the new dividend policy, proposed demerger and continued evaluation of a potential REIT.”

In May Mr. Packer stepped down as co-chairman of Macau operator Melco Crown Entertainment with Crown Resorts selling part of its stake to Macau partner Melco International for $US800m. That deal saw Crown’s share in Melco Crown reduced to 27.4 per cent from 34.3 per cent.

In May last year, Mr. Packer stepped down as Chairman of Crown Resorts with the Board appointing Robert Rankin as his replacement as Chairman.

Mr. Packer said back then: “Crown remains my number one business priority and passion. My vision for the company is to be one of the world’s best integrated resort and entertainment providers – as Crown’s largest and majority shareholder, I will be completely focussed in delivering on these plans. I will continue to drive key projects, including our joint business in Asia and our planned resort in Las Vegas. I remain deeply committed to building the world’s best six-star hotel at Barangaroo in Sydney. No project is more important to me.”

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