US Backers Hand Struggling Star Group $550m Lifeline

Struggling Star Entertainment Group has inked a deal with a US private credit investment giant to finance its turnaround plans.

The agreement with WhiteHawk Capital Partners refinances the group’s debt in full, injecting $550 million (US$390 million) into the beleaguered casino owner and operator.

The deal includes “incremental liquidity” to support a turnaround plan being implemented by a new C-suite team brought in after the group cleaned house late last year.

The three-year refinancing deal was originally tipped in February—and has now been made binding. The refinancing is expected to be completed by mid-May.

The deal is subject to the submission of long-form finance documentation, regulatory approvals, a minimum EBITDA covenant and a minimum liquidity covenant of $50 million for the first 12 months increasing to $75 million for the following six months, and up to $100 million thereafter.

It also hangs on the completion of the disposal of The Star’s interest in the Destination Brisbane Consortium, the group behind Brisbane’s Queen’s Wharf development, which includes a new Star casino.

The Star Entertainment Group attempted to sell a 50 per cent stake in The Star Brisbane entertainment precinct in May last year as it struggled to come up with the funds to continue ordinary operations. 

▲ The Treasury Brisbane was sold by The Star Entertainment Group last year.

The stake was supposed to be sold to the group’s joint-venture partners, Far East Consortium alongside jewellery giant Chow Tai Fook, for $53 million and Far East’s 66.7 per cent equity interest in The Star casino at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

The deal fell through in August, but in its most recent results the casino group said it was still working with the groups to exit the Destination Brisbane Consortium which controls Queen’s Wharf.

The announcement of the deal with WhiteHawk comes after a rollercoaster few years for The Star Entertainment Group, in which its reputation and financials have suffered.

In half-year results reported to the ASX in February 2026 revenues had dipped from $724 million in the half year to December 2024 to $694.6 million in the six months to December 2025. 

However, it had managed to slow its stream of losses, from $301.9 million in the corresponding half year to a loss of $109.7 million. 

This previous loss was directly attributed to a $107.6 million impairment on its investment in the Destination Brisbane Consortium. 

▲ Far East Consortium traded its stake in The Star Gold Coast for further shares in the Queen’s Wharf development.

Following major reputational dramas including ASIC investigations into its casino licences and development woes, the  “streamlining” of its corporate office late last year saw the departure of its group chief executive Steve McCann, chief financial officer Frank Krile and chief operating officer Jeannie Mok.

Chairman Bruce Mathieson Jr, whose family of Australian pub owners alongside the US-based Bally’s Corporation injected $300 million into the group, took over as group chief executive officer and managing director. 

Mathieson said at the announcement of the half-years that the group saw “immense potential” in its properties, and that it was “committed to transforming The Star into premiere entertainment destinations”.

WhiteHawk Capital Partners predominantly operates in the US where it has supported the growth of the such firms as Nephron Pharmaceuticals and the budget retailer Family Dollar in its split from the Dollar Tree retail group.