(Bloomberg)—Wynn Resorts Ltd. abruptly ended its talks to buy Australian billionaire James Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd. for A$9.99 billion ($7.12 billion), just a few hours after
Wynn said in a statement Tuesday that it ended the talks “following the premature disclosure of preliminary discussions.” Crown had confirmed the talks overnight after the Australian Financial Review had reported on the potential deal Monday.
Buying Crown could have given the Las Vegas casino empire an alternative for growth amid a slowdown in the gambling enclave of Macau. But Wall Street expressed skepticism about the potential deal. The prospect, while “perplexing,” might have some merit, analysts at Bernstein called. Union Gaming Analytics said the move seemed “purely defensive.”
Wynn shares fell as much as 4.7 percent in New York trading Tuesday. Crown had risen 20 percent Tuesday in Sydney; the news of the abandoned talks came after the close of trading there.
To contact the reporter on this story: John J. Edwards III in Geneva at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at [email protected] Cecile Daurat, Crayton Harrison
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