Moody’s Investors Service says it has withdrawn the Ba3 corporate family rating (CFR) of Crown Resorts Limited following its acquisition by The Blackstone Group due to “a lack of sufficient information.”
In a statement issued Thursday, Moody’s said it had “decided to withdraw the rating because it believes it has insufficient or otherwise inadequate information to support the maintenance of the rating.”
Its decision follows a similar move by fellow ratings agency Fitch, which announced this week that it is withdrawing its ratings on Crown given the company’s plans to delist from the Australian Stock Exchange and go private under Blackstone.
“Fitch expects that Crown’s business profile will retain many of its strong structural features, including the overall licencing and regulatory regime in Australia, and support its business profile,” Fitch Ratings said. “However, uncertainty remains around the final strategy and funding levels required, which could see Crown’s leverage be sustained at levels higher than we currently expect.
“As a result, Fitch has chosen to withdraw Crown’s rating on RWN to reflect these risks. We also expect that limited information will be made public to enable a full assessment of Crown’s business and financial profile once the review is complete, following Crown’s delisting from the Australian Stock Exchange and Blackstone’s intention to operate it as a private company.”
Blackstone completed its AU$8.9 billion (US$6.5 billion) acquisition of Crown last month after receiving approval from regulators in the three Australian states in which Crown operates – New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.
It also sprung a major surprise this week with the announcement that Steve McCann, who was only appointed CEO of Crown Resorts in May 2021, is stepping down, to be replaced by current Wynn Macau Resorts COO Ciarán Carruthers.
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