The Salter Brothers’ proposal is anticipated to provide The Star with $940 million in debt capacity, including $750 million in loaned cash.
When the refinancing proposal from Salter Brothers was first announced, an exclusivity arrangement was put in place until March 18.
In an announcement to the stock market yesterday, The Star said the exclusivity period for Salter Brothers had been extended until April 1 and that Salter Brothers had indicated an aim to make a binding refinancing offer by March 31.
The Star has been in a dire liquidity position since the start of the year, warning that its lack of cash was an existential threat. Having failed to lodge its half year financial results, the company has been suspended from trading on the ASX since March 3.
The Star has said it is unlikely to post its results prior to locking in a refinancing proposal.
In order to survive, The Star has made several major deals this year, announcing the sale of its Sydney Event Centre to Foundation Theatres in January and exiting the $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf development in Brisbane that opened late last August and in which The Star had a fifty per cent stake.
As part of the deal to sell its Queen’s Wharf share to its co-investors, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium, who owned a quarter of the development each, The Star has acquired full ownership of The Star Gold Coast in which Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium were also co-owners.
The Star’s potential refinancers, Salter Brothers, have been acquiring a steadily larger slice of Australia’s luxury accommodation market over the last few years, including most of the Spicers Retreats portfolio, the entire Escarpment Group portfolio, which includes the Hydro Majestic and Lilianfels Resort & Spa in the Blue Mountains, and the Bannisters properties in New South Wales.
