Casino giant abruptly ‘walks away’ from Crown takeover talks

The world’s second biggest casino operator has abruptly ended takeover talks with Australia’s Crown Resorts overnight.

Las Vegas giant Wynn Resorts reportedly walked away after details of the $10 billion bid were leaked.

Crown’s share price is expected to fall when markets re-open today.

Trip Miller, managing director of Gullane Partners, which owns 18 percent of Wynn Resorts, said the Las Vegas company walked away from the deal because it became public.

“I think simply they were interested in doing a private transaction and not getting involved in a public bidding war,” he told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

Mr Miller told Neil that he believes Crown will be acquired by another gaming company in the near future.

“I think you will see consolidation here over the next year or two,

“The most likely acquirer now, if it weren’t Wynn… would be one of the Asian gaming companies, whether it be Genting, or Galaxy or potentially even Melco,” he said.

CommSec’s Tom Piotrowski said that this could well be a tactical move by Wynn and the deal could be back on.

“There are obviously tactics involved in these things,” he told 3AW News.

“There was a stunning rise in Crown shares yesterday.

“They rose by 19 per cent.”

But Mr Miller said he won’t be disappointed if the deal is off.

“Quite frankly, I think Wynn has some tremendous opportunities in Boston, Macau and Japan that I’d rather see them focus on,” he said.

Press PLAY below to hear Neil Mitchell’s interview with Trip Miller this morning.