There are serious doubts that Star will survive long enough to unveil its half-year results at the end of this month. With reports suggesting that The Star could run out of cash as soon as this weekend, The Star scrambled to find quick cash. Along with Chow Tai Fook and Far East, the company announced that it secured a A$250 million loan from New York-based alternative investment giant King Street Capital Management. Although Star reaped $37.5 million in the recent sale of The Star Sydney Event Centre and related assets to Foundation Theatres, some analysts believe the casino giant’s cash burn rate implies it has enough capital to survive a matter of weeks. Star has been seeking a financial rescue deal to avoid collapse and on Friday announced its plan to refinance debt and sell its stake in Brisbane's Queen's Wharf. Star, which operates casinos in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney, entered a trading halt before the Australian share market opened on Friday after failing to post its half-year financial results.
Star, which has been on the brink of collapse for nearly two years, has said that even a $100 million penalty could imperil its future. Initially charged with 289 criminal counts, Chau received the conviction although a judge acquitted him on infractions pertaining to money laundering. Prosecutors accused Chau of facilitating a series of undeclared bets that exceeded HK$8.25 billion (US$1 billion) in taxable income. Among the local Chinese media, Chau received the nickname "Washing Rice Wa", after a sitcom character. "It's loaded with $650 million of its own debt, is still less than 50 per cent operational and requires hundreds of millions of dollars in additional capital expenditure to complete," Mr Mayne noted. The notice to terminate the transaction comes into effect in five business days, on Monday July 7, unless withdrawn prior. The Hong Kong investors poised to buy Star out of Brisbane's Queen's Wharf development have threatened to walk away from the deal that was first inked back in March.