Australia's Crown Resorts backs $6.3 billion Blackstone bid
CNN
Crown Resorts backed a $6.3 billion buyout from private equity giant Blackstone on Monday, giving billionaire James Packer an exit route from the Australian casino firm beset by scandals and regulatory setbacks.
Packer will cash in his chips a decade and a half after he created Crown to shift away from the Packer family's media empire in a bid to reinvent the dynasty as a gambling business.
The A$13.10 cash offer values Crown below its share price in 2019, before COVID-19 restrictions and damaging regulatory inquiries in the three states it operates, but Chief Executive Steve McCann said it provides much-needed certainty for shareholders.
President Joe Biden warned against a streak of “semi-isolationism” in the US as he stressed the importance of alliances during a symbolic visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery on Sunday, honoring the thousands of Americans who died in World War I at a site former President Donald Trump skipped during a 2018 visit to Paris.
Looking to shore up Latino votes in Nevada and Arizona for his reelection campaign, President Joe Biden is on the verge of soon following up last week’s executive action aimed at curbing border crossings with another move focused on providing legal status for long-term undocumented immigrants married to American citizens and without criminal records.