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Cannery
Casino Resorts
News
Australian-based
gaming company to purchase Cannery Casino Resorts
(Credit:
Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The
top executive for Crown Ltd. told gaming regulators
today the Australian-based gaming company does
not plan sweeping changes at Cannery Casino Resorts
when it completes its purchase of the casino operator
later this year.
“Upon
acquisition, we propose to undertake a detailed
review of their business operations, including
detailed plans and budgets,” said Rowen
Craigie, Crown’s managing director and chief
executive officer. “Subject to that review,
we have no plans to fundamentally change the operations
in the short term.”
The
comments came prior to the Nevada Gaming Commission
giving its unanimous approval to the $1.8 billion
buyout of Cannery Casino Resorts in an all-cash
transaction that will carry no debt.
“It’s
nice to see someone come in here with cash,”
Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard said. “It
eases some of our worries in terms of financial
viability of the operation going forward.”
The
deal will not become final pending approval of
regulators in Pennsylvania where Cannery owns
a racino outside Pittsburgh.
Craigie
said Pennsylvania regulators are finishing their
final interviews and Crown should appear before
them in the next few months.
Absent
from the meeting was James Packer, Crown’s
chairman and largest shareholder, with 38 percent
of the company’s stock which is traded on
the Australian Securities Exchange.
Regulators
did not require the 41-year-old Australian billionaire,
who appeared before the state Gaming Control Board
on Jan. 7, to appear Thursday.
Craigie
told regulators a new, Las Vegas-based executive
team will take over operations of the Cannery,
which will be held as a subsidiary of Crown. Crown
will have an office in Las Vegas.
Craigie
said the company already has hired a chief financial
officer and is close to naming a CEO.
Although
the CFO was hired from a Australian casino company,
the short list of possible CEOs all have extensive
backgrounds in U.S. casino operations, which will
help the company navigate the regulatory requirements
in its new market, Craigie said.
“It
would be fair to say the two frontrunners have
extensive Nevada casino experience,” he
said. He did not mention the names of any of the
candidates.
He
also declined after the hearing to say when the
new chief executive will be named, only saying
“soon.”
Crown,
which owns or has joint venture in properties
in Melbourne and Perth, Australia; the United
Kingdom; British Columbia; Alberta; and Macau,
will be entering the U.S. gaming market for the
first time when the deal closes in the next few
months.
Cannery
founders and co-owners William Wortman and Bill
Paulos will hold seats as directors of the new
subsidiary, which Craigie said will help with
the transition.
Craigie
said Crown intends to keep the “family feeling”
nurtured by Wortman and Paulos during the past
few years.
“That
is why we’re glad to have the Bills’
assistance in the transition,” Craigie said
after the hearing. “We’re delighted
they’ve agreed to come on board.”
Most
of the current management team at the Cannery,
Craigie told regulators, have expressed a desire
to continue with the company after the buyout.
Craigie
said the company “doesn’t intend on
making any major changes from the customers’
perspective.”
“But,
if we can bring new ideas, like new marketing
programs that customers have responded very well
to elsewhere, we will,” he said after the
hearing.
The
purchase of Cannery Casino Resorts provides Crown
with recently built hotel-casinos that will have
low construction and capital expenditure costs,
Craigie said.
Cannery
opened its second hotel-casino, the $250 million
Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway, in late August.
Its first property, the Cannery in North Las Vegas,
opened in 2003.
While
the Crown will take over operations of both properties
and the racino in Pennsylvania, a contract dispute
with the landlord at the JW Marriott at Summerlin
may prevent the company from taking over that
casino.
Wortman
and Paulos received approval from regulators Thursday
to continue operating the casino through their
company, Millennium Gaming, if an agreement cannot
be reached between Rampart and Crown.
Craigie
told regulators that removing the Rampart casino
from the deal would lower the cost of the buyout,
but he did not say by how much.
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Man Australia does not represent Cannery Casino
Resorts or James Packer
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