Aquis Considering Second Offer on Casino Canberra

Australian company Aquis Entertainment Ltd continues to be courted by investors after the company received a second offer to acquire Casino Canberra. Aquis originally received an offer of AU$52 million ($36 million) to sell the casino to Capital Leisure & Entertainment Pty Ltd.

Getting a Better Deal for Casino Canberra

The company signed a share purchase agreement at the time. Now, though, Aquis is looking into a competing offer that is substantially better than the original consideration proposed by Capital Leisure & Entertainment.

Aquis’ shares were placed into voluntary suspension late last week and remained paused during trade day on Monday, as the firm is looking into the competing offer and whether it can be of substantial interest. Aquis stated outright that the prices offered were materially higher than what Capital Leisure had been able to propose at the time.

A more detailed explanation is expected to come later today or possibly this week, but shares are already expected to continue trading on Wednesday. Aquis decided to ditch Casino Canberra after it failed to convince the ACT Government to give the firm the green light to pursue an ambitious redevelopment project that would have resulted in investing AU$330 million ($226 million) in the property.

Casino Canberra Won’t Have Slots After All

Aquis originally bought out Casino Canberra in 2014 and submitted its redevelopment plan a year later. The company wanted to add 500 slot machines and seek permission to actually launch this segment, which has been so far restricted by the ACT Government.

However, the government struck down the idea as it cited regulatory and financial uncertainties as to the reason why it would not be appropriate for Casino Canberra to launch a slot parlor. Still, local authorities sought to seduce Aquis’ generous bid and proposed a 200 slot machine and 60 EGMs counter-offer, which would need to be run under strict regulatory guidelines.