CWN 0.25% $12.09 crown resorts limited

Why James Packer has been selling his assets

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    James Packer has spent the past year selling several assets, making his Crown Resorts shares now by far the biggest part of his portfolio.
    On Wednesday it was announced that Mr Packer is exiting Hollywood, selling his stake in RatPac Entertainment, the Los Angeles-based film, television and documentary business he created in 2013 with producer-director Brett Ratner.

    The RatPac sale was the latest in a string of deals that included the offloading of the Pretty Girl Fashion Group, Noni B shares and Crown's stake in Macau casino business Melco Crown.
    There is speculation Mr Packer may be collecting the cash for either a renewed tilt at privatising Crown, a strategy he had previously pursued in late 2015, or is making further settlements with his sister Gretel, who struck a deal in early 2016 with him to gain control of some of the family assets.
    But sources close to the billionaire have denied either is under consideration and that he is paring down his assets to fully concentrate on Crown and his Australian casino assets.
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    Mr Packer, who announced in January he was returning to the Crown board, has instead been busily involving himself in day-to-day management of the business and has been in daily contact with Crown executives about operations in Melbourne and Perth. The company is searching for costs savings, while also dealing with new projects in Sydney and Melbourne, and working on getting still-detained staff out of China.

    But a cloud still hangs over the Crown share price, even though Mr Packer quadrupled his money on his initial investment on Macau casinos when Crown moved to sell its Melco Crown stake in December.
    Crown shares are up 12 per cent since January 1, but are down about 12 per cent since late August, three months before 18 Crown staff were arrested in China.
    Terms of the RatPac sale were not disclosed although it was likely the deal would be at best for several tens of millions of dollars. Packer offloaded his stake to another billionaire, American businessman Len Blavatnik, who heads conglomerate Access Industries.
    Mr Packer's private investment company, Consolidated Press Holdings, emerged with 10 per cent of Noni B last August after he sold Pretty Girl, one of the last legacy investments of his late father Kerry, to the retailer for at least $75 million. But he sold the Noni B shares in March.

    That leaves him with Crown shares, and stakes in ASX-listed Ten Network and Contango Management, as well as shares in US real estate company Zillow and Chinese job company Zhaopin.
    Ten shares are down 49 per cent since January 1, while Contango Management shares have dropped 21 per cent. Zillow, in which Gretel Packer also has a holding, has also fallen 2 per cent in the same time but has risen 53 per cent in 12 months.
    Zhaopin shares, meanwhile, have risen 19 per cent this year. But that holding will soon go too, as the company will be privatised by parent company Seek. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.
 
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