The American investment company Blackstone has made a multimillion-dollar offer for the Australian casino company Crown Resorts, which is currently involved in several scandals.

Blackstone wants to expand further its existing casino and hotel activities with the acquisition.

The offer has a total value of $ 6.2 billion. Blackstone already owns 10 percent of Crown and now wants to take control of the rest. The casino group recently suffered a severe blow when authorities refused to grant a license to operate a significant casino in Sydney due to concerns about money laundering and organised crime links.

Criminal activities are also under investigation at Crown casinos in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Perth.

In addition to the scandals, Crown is also struggling with the corona pandemic, as it means far fewer gamblers are coming to its casinos. The largest shareholder in the casino company is Australian billionaire James Packer, looking for a buyer for some time. On the stock exchange in Sydney, the Crown share rose sharply on Monday due to the takeover bid.

Blackstone has several casinos and hotel properties, including the well-known Bellagio resort in the American gambling capital of Las Vegas. That was bought for nearly $ 4.3 billion in 2019.