Business
17 July, 2025
$177m bid for casino
A SYDNEY-based casino and hotel operator has made a $177 million takeover bid for the Reef Casino Trust which owns the hotel-casino complex in the Cairns CBD.
Iris Cairns Property Pty Ltd will make an off-market cash takeover bid to acquire all of the ordinary units in Reef Casino Trust, according to a trust announcement to the ASX on Monday.
Sam Arnaout, of Iris Group, has been vying for the trust since February this year followed by a second bid by billionaire Chris Morris in April.
Trust chief executive officer Brad Sheahon said an independent board committee established by the Reef Hotel Casino “unanimously recommend that unitholders accept the offer”, which had been backed by all directors.
“RCT’s two largest unitholders – Accor and Casinos Austria International, who collectively have a relevant interest in more than 70 per cent of the units in RCT – have advised RCT of their support for the offer,” he said.
Mr Sheahon said the offer would be analysed by an independent expert.
“(The offer) is subject to an independent expert concluding the offer is fair and reasonable or, if not fair but reasonable, that the other transactions contemplated by the Takeover Implementation Agreement do not amount to a net benefit,” Mr Sheahon said.
Iris Capital, the owner of casinos in Canberra and Alice Springs as well as more than 60 pubs and hotels, entered into a takeover bid agreement to acquire all shares at $3.5541 each, which is a 17.69 per cent premium to the closing unit price of $3.02 on July 11.
Mr Morris is the co-founder of Computershare and owns luxury outback accommodation at Mount Mulligan Lodge, the Ville Resort-Casino in Townsville, Orpheus Island Lodge, Pelorus Island, a fleet of helicopters and superyachts in Cairns and several pubs and hotels, including the Julatten Hotel.
Casinos Austria and Accor have owned about 72 per cent of the trust since 2000 and the remaining units are owned by independent investors and actively traded on the ASX.
For the deal to go ahead 80 per cent of shareholders have to agree to the sale and if 90 per cent is achieved the takeover bid is guaranteed.
In 2013 the Fung family, behind the failed $8 billion Aquis resort and casino at Yorkey’s Knob, were unsuccessful in their attempt to buy the trust. They later bought the Canberra casino, sold to Mr Arnaout for $63m in 2022.
