Business
24 October, 2025
New owner closes in
THE prospective new owner of The Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns is close to acquiring 80 per cent of the venue’s shares required to complete its takeover bid.
As of 22 October, Iris Cairns Property had snapped up 74.94 per cent of the units in the Reef Casino Trust. It needs 80 per cent.
It has told the Australian Securities Exchange it had spent $139.13 million buying 36.52m shares for $3.87 each. As of 22 October the trust was valued at $179.28m
Iris boss Sam Arnaout was embroiled with tourism tycoon Chris Morris in a bidding war for the Cairns CBD gaming venue and hotel.
But in August the RCT board “unanimously recommend that unitholders accept the (Iris) offer”, which was $192.7m.
Trust chairwoman Wendy Morris said in August that “we are pleased that Iris has revised its proposal to acquire RCT and that the revised proposal will deliver additional value to unitholders”.
It is subject to 80 per cent acceptance and casino and liquor licensing approvals.
Iris Capital Group is based in Sydney and owns two casinos in Canberra and Alice Springs and more than 60 hotels, mainly in New South Wales.
