Star Entertainment today (7 March) announced it will unload its stake in its Queen’s Wharf Brisbane joint venture. Star will also consolidate its ownership in the Gold Coast property as it continues the fight to stave off insolvency. 
In an ASX filing, Star announced that it is selling back its 50% stake in Queen’s Wharf to existing partners Chow Tai Fook (CTF) and Far East Consortium (FEC). The all-in price will be A$53 million (£25.8 million/€30.8 million/US$33.4 million), with an up-front payment of A$35 million.
An additional A$10 million will be due by the end of the month. The remaining A$8 million will be paid either by 30 November or the completion of the Andaz hotel tower at Star’s Gold Coast property, whichever is earlier.
By selling its Queen’s Wharf stake, Star no longer has any financial commitment to the project. This is noteworthy, given that its expected future contributions were at least A$212 million. It is also “released from the parent company guarantee in relation to its 50% share” of the project’s debt facility, which has a drawn balance of A$1.4 billion.
The original casino management agreement for the development was also terminated. Star will remain in place as the operator through March 2026 until a new operator is brought on board. In exchange it will receive A$5 million per month. If that transitional period is extended, the price will increase to A$6 million per month.
Disappointing exit from promising development
Overall, the move is the most aggressive yet for Star as it continues to fight off administration. Queen’s Wharf was beset by delays and nearly doubled in cost to A$3.6 billion. But it was still expected to be a key driver for Star moving forward. The first phase of the mixed-use development opened last August.
Star Entertainment will dispose of its stake in the multibillion dollar Queen’s Wharf precinct as part of a deal with two major shareholders. https://t.co/GN5lLgy08c
— Financial Review (@FinancialReview) March 7, 2025
“This transaction is an important milestone for the company and contributes to providing a potential pathway towards financial viability”, Star CEO Steve McCann said in a statement. “Our team has worked hard to deliver The Star Brisbane and establish a new precinct for Brisbane.
“We are grateful for the efforts of all of our employees and we will work with our joint venture partners and the regulator to transition to a new casino operator in due course”.
Even though the deal has been agreed to, there’s still no guarantee that state regulators will sign off. CTF has come under previous scrutiny for alleged links to junket operator Suncity Group. Suncity, whose founder Alvin Chau is serving 18 years in a Macau prison on illegal gambling charges, collapsed in 2022. Queensland officials are likely to question CTF’s growing stake in a big development.
Star to consolidate Gold Coast ownership
As part of the transaction, Star will acquire CTF and FEC’s stakes in the non-gaming assets of Star Gold Coast. This includes the 313-room Dorsett hotel tower and the 202-room Andaz tower, which is still under construction.
The company will retain full ownership of the property. In effect, Star is punting on Queen’s Wharf and doubling down on Gold Coast. This move, it said, “will enhance The Star’s customer offering and provide further depth to its accommodation mix on the Gold Coast”.
Additionally, Star will “retain its rights to future development, noting that the 6.7 hectare site has freehold title and existing plans to develop up to three additional towers”. CTF and FEC will retain development rights for the next tower, but Star can buy out those rights for A$17 million.
In addition to exiting Queen’s Wharf, Star also agreed to relinquish its Treasury Hotel building and its accompanying garage to CTF and FEC, as well as its interests in a separate garage. Treasury was the predecessor to Queen’s Wharf. Star sold the site’s casino building to Griffith University last September for A$67.5 million. This means that in total, Star has completely divested its Brisbane assets.
“We are excited about our future in the Gold Coast”, McCann said. “We will have almost 1,200 hotel rooms at the Gold Coast following the opening of the 5-star Andaz Hotel in late 2025 and believe that once we optimise these operations and our strategy, our full ownership of these hotels will enhance our integrated offering and provide an opportunity to improve the performance of the business”.
New loan and potential financing deal
Also on Friday, Star announced it secured a new A$250 million bridge facility from US-based King Street Capital Management. The facility is available to be drawn until 29 April, if requisite conditions are met.
Those conditions include “entering into an intercreditor agreement with The Star’s existing lenders, obtaining relevant probity approvals and regulatory consents for The Star to provide first ranking security over The Star Gold Coast (and associated assets)” and others, the company said.
The announcement also mentioned a refinancing proposal from an undisclosed lender. If finalised, it would “have the capacity to provide total debt capacity of up to A$940 million”. However, it is non-binding and there is no certainty it will be implemented.
Star said the proposal would provide for “sufficient liquidity to refinance all of the Group’s existing corporate debt and is not conditional on either the purchase of the existing senior debt at a discount to par or any government tax deferrals or waivers”.
On 17 February, Star confirmed it had been approached with an A$650 debt financing proposal from Oaktree Capital. But in its Friday announcement, it said conditions for that proposal have not been met.
Hard to forecast Star’s future
From a 30,000-foot perspective, Star’s future has never been murkier. Even as it races to divest of assets, it faces significant headwinds. As of writing, its shares were still suspended from trading after the company failed to submit earnings on time.
Perhaps the biggest looming question is its ability to regain control of its Star Sydney casino licence. The casino has been the subject of two separate suitability inquires, and was deemed unsuitable both times. As a result, Star has paid millions in fines and has been a carousel for executives.
State regulators in New South Wales are due to deliver a third ruling after 31 March. If it is again deemed unsuitable, Star Sydney’s licence could be revoked altogether. The company already sold the property’s event centre for A$60 million as part of its asset sell-off. As a result of the inquiries, Star is also under investigation by Austrac, Australia’s financial crime watchdog. A substantial fine is expected to be handed down, but that investigation is still ongoing.
Given its distressed state, opportunists are said to be circling the operator. Perhaps the most notable is US operator Bally’s Corp, which sent officials in February to meet with Star and tour its properties.
“The company still faces various risks, including the availability of funding, the ability to restore our licences (including implementing our remediation plan and various regulatory reforms relating to carded play and cash and time limits), maintaining support from stakeholders, resolving the various litigation and claims from historical issues and managing the business in a period of continuing lower revenue and negative cashflow,” McCann warned Friday.
