Star Entertainment names Macdonald as new group company secretary
Senior executive Macdonald brings experience from across legal, regulatory and governance. The appointment is subject to all necessary regulatory approvals being obtained.
Previously, Macdonald worked at the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX). He was most recently general counsel and company secretary for the NSX and also chair of the NZX Corporate Governance Institute.
Prior to this, Macdonald worked in legal roles in New Zealand, as well as in Australia and the UK.
Until Macdonald’s appointment is confirmed, Jennie Yuen remains the person responsible for communication with the Australian Stock Exchange.
In addition, Nawal Silfani, who was appointed as a company secretary in September 2022, will take on a new strategic governance role within the group.
“We welcome Mr Macdonald and acknowledges the ongoing and valuable contributions from Ms Silfani and Ms Yuen,” Star said.
Changes at the top
The appointment comes after Star earlier this year named David Foster as its new chairman. Foster replaced the outgoing Ben Heap in March after less than a year in the role.
Heap only took on the position of chairman in June 2022 after a spell as interim chairman. This followed the exit of Matt Bekier as managing director and CEO.
However, Star announced in December that Heap would step down after he was named among a number of current and former directors and former executives facing civil proceedings from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Star reveals AU$2.4bn loss
Last month, Star announced a full-year loss of AU$2.4bn (£1.3bn/€1.5bn/US$1.54bn) as it counted the cost of a writedown in the value of its casinos in Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane.
Star announced $2.8bn of outgoings labelled “significant items” for the year to 30 June 2023. This followed a string of fines and penalties in recent years,
This consisted of an AU$2.2bn non-cash impairment of the Sydney, Gold Coast and Treasury Brisbane goodwill and property assets. There were also regulatory and legal costs of AU$595m, debt restructuring costs of AU$54m, and redundancy costs of AU$16m.