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HomeNewsAustraliaThe Star’s HK-listed Queen’s Wharf partners in town to discuss financial lifeline: report

The Star’s HK-listed Queen’s Wharf partners in town to discuss financial lifeline: report

The Hong Kong-listed partners of embattled Australian gaming group The Star are in Queensland to discuss the future of their joint venture in Queen’s Wharf Brisbane, as the company struggles to secure a financial lifeline.

According to the Australian Financial Review, representatives of Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium – each 25 percent partners in Queen’s Wharf, are visiting to review the property and discuss some AU$1.6 billion ($1 billion) in debt linked to it.

On Monday, The Star disclosed that there was ‘material uncertainty as to the group’s ability to continue as a going concern’.

The group indicated that it was pursuing various avenues to improve its liquidity but that ‘there is no certainty’ these would materialize.

These avenues include a request for tax rebates from both the Queensland and New South Wales governments, a scramble to try and raise AU$150 million ($94 million) in subordinated debt to unlock an AU$100 million ($62.75 million) tranche from a loan, and safe harbor provisions to protect directors in case of insolvency negotiations.

The Star’s CEO Steve McCann has assured that he is exploring how to reduce the company’s debt, after the company held just AU$78 million ($48.94 million) in available cash as of December 31st.

One such avenue could be the further sale of shares by The Star, and possibly a large stake being taken in Queen’s Wharf by both Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium.

More money will be needed for the project anyway, as debt needs to be refinanced later this year.

But the expanding budget for the project, which has swelled to AU$3.6 billion ($2.26 billion), could cause the investors to balk at putting more money in.

Kelsey Wilhelm
Kelsey Wilhelmhttps://agbrief.com
Kelsey Wilhelm is a broadcast, print journalist and editor based in Asia for over 15 years. Focused on content creation, management, cross-cultural exchange and interviews for multi-lingual productions. Writing focus on gaming, business, politics, culture and heritage, events and celebrities, subcultures, music, film, art and fashion. Some of Kelsey's specialties are: editing, writing, copy creation, multi-lingual content production, cross-cultural exchange, content creation and management for Asian markets.

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