Star Entertainment Taken to Court by Contractor in Brisbane

Posted on August 25, 2023 | 6:50 am
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Star Entertainment, one of the most prominent land-based casino operators in Australia, has received bad news from Brisbane as the company has been served with a process in Queensland courts by the contract builder for its Queen’s Wharf Brisbane project.

The project is worth 3.6 billion dollars and it is developed by the Destination Brisbane Consortium, in which Star Entertainment Group holds a 50 percent stake. The remaining 50 percent are divided between two companies from Hong Kong, Chow Tai Fook and Far East Consortium, which hold 25 percent each.

Earlier this summer Star Entertainment announced the postponement of the grand opening for Queen’s Wharf Brisbane, the fourth delay announced during the past year and a half. The opening date has been pushed to April 2024 from December 2023.

Now the company revealed that it has been served with an originating process in the Supreme Court of Queensland by Multiplex Constructions Qld Ltd, the contractor in charge of building the multi-billion dollar resort in Brisbane. The originating process is most likely related to issues of counterclaim.

After the latest postponement of the opening date, Destination Brisbane Consortium had been holding discussions with Multiplex Construction regarding the contractor’s claims for additional costs due to extensions of time and damages. On the other hand, Destination Brisbane Consortium also has its own claims against Multiplex Construction for damages due to delays in achieving milestones clearly stipulated in the contract between the two parties.

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Financial Results Release Postponed As Well

Star Entertainment revealed in a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange that it will defend the proceedings against Multiplex Construction in court and detailed that the court action is aiming to obtain“various declarations from the Court regarding extensions of time, relevant milestone dates, liquidated damages, variations and certain other matters, including potential sums payable, in connection with the contract.”

In a separate filing, Star Entertainment also announced the postponement of the release of its financial results for the 2023 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. The postponement is supposed to allow time for the company to incorporate impairments related to the recent increase in casino duty rates in New South Wales.

Star Entertainment is expected to announce earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around 300 million Australian dollars for the 2023 fiscal year, including provisions for fines and costs related to the multiple regulatory reviews the company has been going through recently.

Source: , agbrief.com, August 21, 2023.

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