Zona de Azar Australia – Crown Reaches US$94m Shareholder Settlement

Australia.- November 1st 2021 www.zonadeazar.com Crown Resorts has reached an agreement to settle the shareholder class action commenced against the operator on 4 December 2017 in the Federal Court of Australia.

Referenced as Zantran Pty Limited v Crown Resorts Limited, Federal Court Proceeding VID 1317/2017, the total settlement amount is AU$125m (US$94.3m) inclusive of interest and costs.

The class-action lawsuit alleged that Crown had failed to inform shareholders of a marketing campaign in China that resulted in an almost 14% decline in the company’s share price when 18 of the group’s employees were detained in China in 2016.

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Australia’s leading class action firm, filed the Federal Court class action against Crown, with Andrew Watson, National Head of Class Actions at Maurice Blackburn, at the time saying Crown had “decided to roll the dice on its Chinese VIP operations against a backdrop of a known Chinese crackdown on illegal gambling related activities, and that gamble backfired spectacularly.”

Crown says the settlement of the proceeding is subject to Federal Court approval and other conditions.

“Crown expects to recover a significant portion of the settlement amount from its insurers but cannot at this stage be certain about the outcome of negotiations with insurers, or the outcome of any necessary formal steps for recovery it may need to take,” a statement from the operator read.

“Crown’s Board of Directors determined that the agreement to settle the Proceeding was a commercial decision made in the best interests of Crown and its shareholders.”

Edited by: @MaiaDigital www.zonadeazar.com