Crown Resorts has rejected Blackstone’s sweetened A$8.4bn (€5.4bn) takeover offer and has not yet “formed a view” The Star Entertainment Group’s A$12bn rival merger proposal.

Last week, Blackstone, which owns around 10% of Crown shares, increased its previous A$11.85 per share offer by A$0.50, valuing the ASX-listed resort group at A$8.36bn. The Star, which operates casinos in NSW and Queensland, has offered A$12.50 for each of Australian resort group’s share in cash, or the equivalent of A$14 per share in scrip as part of its proposed merger.

“The board has unanimously concluded that the revised (Blackstone) proposal undervalues Crown, and is not in the best interests of Crown’s shareholders,” Crown said today.

Of the other unsolicited proposal from The Star, the Crown board said that to facilitate assessment of the merger proposal, The Star had been requested to “provide certain information to allow the Crown Board to better understand various preliminary matters”.

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