(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group Inc. has increased its offer for embattled Australian casino operator Crown Resorts Ltd. to A$8.5 billion ($6.2 billion) after two earlier bids were rejected as too low.
The U.S. buyout firm’s latest offer values Crown shares at A$12.50 each, a 26% premium to Thursday’s closing price. Crown, which rejected previous bids of A$11.85 and A$12.35 a share hasn’t yet formed a view on the merits of the proposal, it said in a statement Friday.
The offer comes after Crown was last month given two years to address a litany of wrongdoing to save its flagship Melbourne casino. An inquiry found Crown was unsuitable to run the casino after underpaying taxes, facilitating money laundering and exploiting problem gamblers. The company’s behavior was described as “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative.”
Read more: Tarnished Crown Wins Stay of Execution With Time to Fix Casino
In February, Crown was found also unsuitable to run its brand-new casino in Sydney, which remains shut almost a year after its planned opening. An inquiry is also being held into Crown’s suitability to operate its Perth casino.
Any acquisition of Crown would be conditional on Blackstone receiving approval from casino regulators in the three Australian states it operates in.
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