Star Entertainment confirms Hard Rock takeover offer

The company's interest was first reported earlier on Monday by the Australian Financial Review.

The AFR said the Hard Rock proposal envisioned rebranding the Star's casinos and transforming them into entertainment destinations focused less on gaming and more on live music, food and beverages and hotels.

Owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Hard Rock owns dozens of hotel-casinos and theme-bar restaurants across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific. 

It also operates the Mirage in Las Vegas, which announced last week that it was closing in July to be rebranded into a Hard Rock hotel-casino.

Star said its focus remained on remediation activities in Queensland and NSW, and participating in the second Bell inquiry probing its suitability to hold a NSW casino license.