Coincidentally, another significant shareholder in E-Commerce is PAG – a major Asian investment company that is the largest shareholder in troubled Australian airline Rex. He does share the name with a businessman who is the majority shareholder in a Hong Kong-listed company, E-Commodities Holdings, which trades in commodities, including coal and oil. There is still no report this morning, and it looks increasingly unlikely the company is in any position to update the market today. Now the ASX has made that suspension involuntary as Star didn't manage to table its full-year financial report before the cut-off at the close of business on Friday. An opportunistic buyer may be enticed by Star’s beleaguered share price, which traded to a record low of 10.5c earlier this month before a modest recovery.
Investors will soon learn what the casino company has decided to do once it announces its plan in the next few days. It seems there is a lot of work operationally and financially to do for the company to continue operating. According to the Australian Financial Review, it is preparing to announce a $1.4 billion write-down of casino assets and a plan to significantly reduce costs after cashless card gaming and increased regulation. However, the Bell Report underscores the NICC's concerns that it was not receiving all of the facts from The Star at a time when we needed certainty the company could fund and prioritise an urgent business turnaround. On 7 April 2025, Star Entertainment and Bally’s reached an agreement where Bally's will acquire a controlling 56.7% stake in the company, effectively rescuing Star Entertainment from collapse. The $180 million deal will allow Star to keep all three of their properties and will allow Bally's to expand outside of the US for the first time in the company’s history.On 25 June 2025, shareholders approved the Bally’s takeover bid.