Las Vegas Review Journal – A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank in New York wouldn’t discuss an Australian press report Monday that the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas could be sold to a company controlled by billionaire James Packer.
Germany’s largest bank, which opened the 3,000-room Cosmopolitan in December 2010 after it foreclosed on the project’s original developer, is reportedly seeking a buyer for the resort. The Cosmopolitan has never turned a quarterly profit.
The Brisbane Times reported that Crown Resorts, which is controlled by Packer, was planning to “lodge an expression of interest” for the Cosmopolitan by Tuesday.
Bloomberg News recently reported that Deutsche Bank was seeking at least $2 billion for the Cosmopolitan and had four potential bidders lined up. Deutsche Bank took over the unfinished Cosmopolitan from Ian Bruce Eichner in 2008 and completed the project at cost of $3.9 billion.
It’s long been assumed that the bank wanted to unload the property.
The Cosmopolitan reported a net loss of $25.5 million in the quarter that ended Dec. 31 and net loss of $94.8 million on net revenues of $652.5 million for all of 2013. In 2012, the Cosmopolitan lost $106.6 million on net revenues of $595.2 million.
Renee Calabro, the head of press and media relations for Deutsche Bank Americas, said in an email “we decline to comment” when asked about the potential Packer bid.
Crown owns casinos in Australia. Through Melco — a joint venture with Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho — Crown owns casinos in Macau and Manila.
Packer inherited pay-TV company Consolidated Media Holdings, a $5 billion business, when his father Kerry Packer died in late 2005. Consolidated Media was sold to Newscorp. in 2012 and Packer pocketed $1 billion.
Today, Packer — who has a net worth of $6.5 billion — is listed at No. 212 on the Forbes List of World Billionaires and is the No. 2 richest person in Australia.
Packer has flirted with Las Vegas in past.
