Billionaire Bruce Mathieson becomes Star’s highest shareholder

The embattled Star Entertainment Group has confirmed billionaire Bruce Mathieson has bought out a 9.97% stake in the company. The pub and poker king of Australia is now the company’s highest shareholder holding 94,952,796 Star shares.

Mathieson got a hold of the company’s shares after it announced a sale in a bid to raise enough money to pay off debts racked up as a result of regulatory punitive damages. Star’s CEO announced the company will need $800 million to pay off its debts hence the sale of its shares.

Reports confirmed Mathieson began buying the shares since February 15 through his brokerage firm, Ord Minnett. He was said to have bought the shares at $1.49, higher than the $1.20 offer price the company gave out. This brought the total purchase to AU$141.7 million.

Even though Mathieson bought the shares higher than the asking price, it is still a cheap purchase for the billionaire who currently has a net worth of US$2.5 billion. Asides that, Star’s share price which used to be $5.43 about five years ago is now at a measly $1.28 dollar as at February this year.

In his comments to The Sydney Morning Herald concerning the purchase, the billionaire noted: “I wouldn’t be buying it unless I thought it was good value. I like the assets of the company, I like the industry and I just think it’s something that [as] a long-term holding for my family will be great.”

He added: “You might have bought a house last month because [you think] it’s cheap and you think you are going to get value, but there are not many assets like [Star’s] in this field and in this country that I like.”

Mathieson was only able to buy 10% of the company’s stake due to the directive from both New South Wales and Queensland’s gambling regulators preventing an individual from owning more than a 10% stake in the company. The directive will remain in place till the company passes all regulatory and probity checks.

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