SYDNEY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The billionaire majority owner of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts Ltd CWN.AX said on Thursday that he has no immediate plans to take the company private, a day after speculation about a buyout sent its shares on their biggest one-day spike.
In a statement published by the Australian Securities Exchange, the private company of James Packer, who owns 53 percent of the A$8 billion gambling firm, said it occasionally talks with third parties about its investments but that this does not mean it is planning a buyout of Crown. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1451QS
The statement, while it does not rule out the possibility of a Crown buyout, is likely to put pressure on the company's shares which bounced 14 percent a day earlier after Bloomberg and The Australian newspaper reported that Packer's company, CPH, was talking with private equity firms and pension funds about taking Crown private.
"CPH has not put forward any proposal of the nature speculated in the media to Crown Resorts Ltd independent directors," the statement said.
The fact that CPH has discussions with third parties about its investments "should not be taken as any indication that any proposal, of the nature that has been subject of the media speculation, will be made by CPH in the future", it added.
A Crown spokesman was not immediately available for comment.