Chinese billionaire bids on Australian casino firm

Reuters – Chinese tycoon Tony Fung has offered to pay A$214 million ($199 million) to buy Reef Casino Trust, which owns the only casino in the Australian city of Cairns near the Great Barrier Reef, in a bid to enter the country’s gambling and tourism market. Shares in Reef Casino surged 42.6 percent to six-year highs after the announcement. Fung, a billionaire son of one of the founders of Hong Kong conglomerate Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd, has previously proposed a A$4.2 billion ($3.8 billion) casino and resort project in Cairns, which has yet to get approval from the…