Crown Resorts director Helen Coonan says that the company remains committed to its investment in Melco Crown Entertainment despite its unexpected offloading of AU$1 billion-worth (US$800 million) of shares in the Macau casino-resort company, according to Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald, published yesterday. Crown cut its 34 per cent stake in Melco down to 27 per cent last week, fuelling rumours of cleaning house but Ms. Coonan denied the offload was a reflection on the short-term prospects of the SAR, resulting from falling revenues for almost two years due to a strict Chinese Government crackdown on corruption. “The downturn in Macau is in the short term and in the medium-to-longer term it’s a sound investment,” said the Crown Resorts director. “It’s part of a capital management strategy and Crown still has a significant footprint in Macau, and in the longer term Crown is of the view that these assets are just gold because of their position,” added Ms. Coonan. She revealed no potential deal had been put to the Crown board by James Packer’s private investment vehicle Consolidated Press Holdings regarding a rumoured AU$8 billion privatisation of Crown. “On the privatisation, we’ve never had a proposal brought to the board,” Ms. Coonan said.
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