PBL bets on casinos

Written on May 24, 2006 by a2zMacau

PUBLISHING and Broadcasting is planning to float its Macau casino joint venture with Hong Kong billionaire Lawrence Ho on the US stock exchange, a newspaper report says.

The Australian Financial Review said PBL (pbl.ASX:Quote,News) was working with three investment banks, believed to be Citigroup, Credit Suisse and UBS, on floating a 20 per cent stake in the venture on the Nasdaq Composite Index in the US.The deal is expected to value the venture at $US5 billion ($6.6 billion) and is scheduled to take place before the end of the year.

The newspaper said the deal was subject to PBL (pbl.ASX:Quote,News) and Mr Ho's Melco International acquiring a full casino licence in Macau.

The deal would give the partners cash to expand their resources to new markets such as Thailand.

PBL recently entered into the joint venture with Melco to develop a casino and hotel complex in Macau. The Packer family holds a controlling 39 per cent interest.

Technorati Tags: Lawrence Ho, macau, Macau Casino