Australian casino operator The Star has completed the retail portion of its recently-announced entitlement offer, raising AU$203 million ($135 million). Together with the Placement and Institutional Entitlement Offer (Equity Raising), the total amount raised reached AU$800 million ($531 million).
According to a Thursday filing, the firm said that the retail entitlement offer saw “strong support”. A total of nearly 10,100 valid applications for the retail entitlements were received, for approximately AUD$107 million ($71 million), representing a take-up rate by eligible retail shareholders of 53 percent.
Nearly 169.5 million new shares to be issued under the retail entitlement offer are expected to be allotted on Monday, 20th March, and are expected to trade on the ASX on Tuesday. The new shares will rank equally with existing The Star shares on issue.
Star’s Chief Executive Officer, Robbie Cooke reiterated that “the capital structure initiatives announced on 23 February 2023, including the Placement and Entitlement Offer, will provide The Star with a strengthened balance sheet to deliver on its key strategic priorities and to meet the capital requirements provisioned for”.
Due to legal cases against the company for alleged anti-money laundering malpractice and potential changes to the tax regime the company announced earlier that it was anticipating losses of up to $1.11 billion.
Last month, the Star reported a 1H23 loss of $861 million, despite recording a 75.6 percent yearly increase in revenue, to AU$1.01 billion ($690.11 million) and a 576 percent increase in EBITDA, to AU$200 million ($135.63 million).
