SkyCity to consider selling its entire business

New Zealand-based SkyCity Entertainment Group will hear from suitors who want to buy its entire portfolio. The portfolio includes the country's largest casino, the 328-metre Sky Tower, the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC), and the casinos in Hamilton and Adelaide.

Chairman Julian Cook said they will run a structured process on behalf of shareholders. They will talk with interested parties and give them access to some due diligence information to help them prepare an offer. UBS will act as investment banking adviser and Chapman Tripp as legal adviser in the process. Cook said the process will take time.

Cook stressed that they believe the current strategy is sound. However, he added that if shareholders receive an offer that delivers more value than this strategy, they will consider it carefully.

The announcement was made at the company's annual general meeting. At the meeting, it was announced that trading in the first quarter of FY27 was in line with the fourth quarter of FY26. Cook said consumer conditions in New Zealand and Australia remain weak. He said revenues were progressing in line with expectations, while the cost-saving programme is ahead of schedule. About a quarter of the targeted annual gains have already been achieved.

The company did not provide formal earnings guidance because the timing of its entry into the online casino market is uncertain. CEO Jason Walbridge said the tender concluded at a price within the scenarios they had modelled, and that they deliberately chose to proceed with two licences rather than the maximum of three allowed.