NATIONAL Leisure and Gaming gained shareholder approval yesterday to proceed with two transactions totalling $143.5 million.
Following the merger of the $80 million GSL Pub Operations Trust, part of the Grant Samuel Laundy Pub Fund and the $63.5 million purchase of Gaming Asset Management, NLG will become one of the largest hotel operators in Australia and the only listed specialist hotel and gaming operator in Australia.
NLG’s chairman Sally Pitkin said since listing on December 14, 2005, NLG had a foundation portfolio of three
“Now, some 18 months later, we have built a portfolio of 28 hotels and 729 electronic gaming machines and achieved strong diversification with our expansion into
“The GSL and GAM hotels are stable, well-established operating businesses that will provide NLG with the scale necessary to realise significant operating synergies across the enlarged portfolio.
“The net assets of NLG will increase from $43.32 million as at December 31, 2006 to $133.93 million post-transactions,” Pitkin said.
The portfolio expansion will bring two new directors to NLG’s Board. Peter Dransfield, a director at GSL, will be appointed as a non-executive director and Sydney hotelier Andrew Jolliffe will be appointed as an executive director.
Settlement of the transactions is expected in late June.
Australian Property Journal
