Rich Lister Bruce Mathieson is ready to go from pubs to casinos.
Street Talk can reveal that he has been building a stake in Star Entertainment via stockbroker Ord Minnett (which it partly owns), and is understood to be willing to lend a hand, should Star’s advisers Macquarie and Barrenjoey pull the trigger on an equity raising on Thursday morning.
The bankers were testing the appetite for an $800 million equity recap this afternoon. However, there’s still the big question of what Star would list in the term sheets’ “use of proceeds” section.
Obviously, there is the much-needed balance sheet repair but there’s also an AUSTRAC fine waiting in the wings. Investors would want to know what exactly they are putting up money for.
As for Oaktree’s proposal, it is understood to have fallen out of favour after several weeks of talks.
We also finally get our hands on the nitty-gritty of Coca-Cola’s hush-hush coal royalties up in Queensland. The fizzy drinks business is running the sale internally, and it would be interesting to see where the price lands, given thermal coal’s plunge from last year’s highs.
