SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd. (PBL) (PBL.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it is expanding its online and gaming businesses, buying an Australian online car site and agreeing to buy up to 50 percent of a UK casino business.
PBL, controlled by Australia's richest man James Packer, said it offered A$1.21 each for the shares it does not already own in Carsales.com.au, valuing the unlisted online car site at A$270 million (106.5 million pounds).
PBL will also pay A$91.8 million for a 46 percent stake in Aspinall's casino business in the UK.
Gaming helped drive 12 percent growth in annual profit in the last business year at PBL, offsetting a fall in profit at its free-to-air Nine Network television channel.
Apsinall's runs a London casino, a recently opened casino in the northern city Newcastle and a casino being developed in Swansea in Wales. Management is pursuing a number of possibilities to develop casinos in various regional cities in the UK, PBL said.
"Aspinall's is a platform for our expansion into the growing UK gaming market, said PBL Chief Executive and Managing Director John Alexander in a statement. "It is a long established business with a strongly recognised brand."
PBL also said it has acquired a further 2.4 percent stake in SEEK Ltd. (SEK.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), Australia's top online job search site, for A$35.3 million.
Seek said last week it had bought a 25 percent stake in Chinese Internet employment site Zhaopin Ltd.
PBL shares fell 1.4 percent to A$17.88, after it paid out a dividend of 29 cents, and Seek rose 0.8 percent to A$4.86 in a broader market down 0.05 percent
source : www.reuters.co.uk
