Australian Crown to buy chain of American Casinos

According to reports, Crown has set its cap at Ameristar Casino. The eight casinos owned by Ameristar are spread around the American Midwest and will put Packer's company firmly on the ground in the US.

The deal will cost Crown in the region of US $2.4 billion. According to Sam Theodore of UBS, Crown has the financial strength to conclude this deal without a joint venture although it might then have to sell off some of its Australian assets to do so.

As with most casino groups, Ameristar has been trading at record lows in recent times due to the global recession. However with the rumours about a possible takeover bid, Ameristar stocks have risen slightly.

In December last year, Crown had acquired three casinos near Las Vegas as well as a racetrack-casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The deal should be approved by regulators later this year. Crown will be paying US $1.8 billion for this acquistion which will bring its total spend in the US to US $6 billion.

Market observers say that even though the casino industry has recently faced hard times, this is the ideal time to increase market share. As the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!

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