Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: SGR) shares remain suspended as the board considers two potential pathways forward.
This has left shareholders in limbo, with their precious investment funds tied up in a stock that the ASX has barred from trading.
Star Entertainment shares were suspended on 3 March at 11 cents per share.
This happened because the casino operator missed its 28 February deadline to lodge its 1H FY25 report.
At the time, the company explained that it needed more liquidity to sign off on the report.
Star Entertainment also stated that there remained "material uncertainty as to the Group's ability to continue as a going concern".
Five days later, the company announced a proposed financial rescue plan.
This included selling its 50% stake in Queen's Wharf in Brisbane to its Hong Kong joint venture (JV) partners for $53 million.
The plan also included a proposed $250 million bridge loan through King Street Capital Management, plus a five-year deal with Salter Brothers Capital to refinance all of its debt.
Then came a second unexpected option.
US casino giant Bally's Corporation sent Star Entertainment an unsolicited funding offer for a controlling stake in the company.
The Star Entertainment board said it would consider Bally's proposal and we've heard nothing more since.
As to when Star Entertainment shares will begin trading again, we can't know for sure.
But a few dates in recent announcements provide us with a ballpark idea of the time frame involved in getting its liquidity sorted.
When will Star Entertainment shares resume trading?
The key to the recommencement of trading is Star Entertainment filing its 1H FY25 report with the ASX.
The company can't do this until it has a liquidity solution.
So, let's look at the two pathways to a solution and the dates associated with each one.
Let's start with the proposed rescue plan and put the Bally's offer aside for the moment.
Under the deal with its JV partners, Star Entertainment said it has already received a $35 million payment for the Queen's Wharf sale.
The JV partners are due to pay another $10 million by the end of this month, so Star will have $45 million in new funds by the end of March. (The balance of the sale—$8 million—will be paid later this year.)
The JV parties are aiming to begin long-form documentation on the sale by 30 April.
Star said it "intends to use these proceeds for short-term liquidity purposes as it seeks to finalise long form facility documentation for, and satisfaction of the conditions precedent to, the Bridge Facility, along with seeking to progress the Refinancing Proposal".
That statement suggests it needs the JV partners' funds plus the bridge facility to resolve its liquidity issues in the short term.
Bridge loan must be drawn by 29 April
Star Entertainment has told us that the six-month bridge facility, which can be extended for up to nine months, stipulates that the funds can be drawn until 29 April.
This date provides our best clue as to when Star Entertainment shares may recommence trading.
If Star can secure the bridge loan by 29 April while also finalising its deal with the JV partners by 30 April, then perhaps this will provide enough liquidity for the company to file its 1H FY25 report. This would allow the ASX to lift the suspension on trading.
By this time, Star Entertainment may also have access to another $60 million in funds from the sale of its Sydney event centre, too.
So, we can speculate that Star Entertainment shares may recommence trading in late April or early May.
We'd expect to hear from the company before this happens, so shareholders should keep an eye on Star Entertainment's announcements.
What about the refinancing deal?
The company also needs that five-year refinancing deal to stay alive in the long term.
We don't know if Star Entertainment will want to wait until that deal is done before filing its 1H FY25 report.
If so, Star Entertainment shares would likely remain on ice beyond late April/early May.
In terms of dates relating to the refinancing deal, Star has already announced it has entered into an exclusivity deed to enable Salter Brothers to complete outstanding due diligence enquiries.
Those enquiries were due to be completed by Tuesday this week. However, the deed included an optional seven-day extension if required.
So, theoretically, Star Entertainment should know by the middle of next week, at the latest, if Salter Brothers is happy to proceed.
Then, it's a case of Star and Salter working toward a binding offer of finance.
This would involve more time to prepare documentation. It is unclear how long this may take.
What if Star Entertainment chooses the Bally's option?
The Bally's offer came in a letter from Bally's chair Soo Kim to Star Entertainment's chair Anne Ward.
Bally's made it clear that they were ready to go with negotiating some kind of deal.
Kim told Ward that Bally's had already completed "substantial due diligence based on publicly available information … ".
He said they could, therefore, deliver a binding proposal "within a short period of time".
Bally's also said it had "ample unrestricted liquidity to complete this transaction expeditiously".
Kim suggested they could implement a $250 million capital raise by 28 March.
That's next Friday.
If discussions led to an agreement along these lines, we'd expect an announcement from Star Entertainment very soon.
But Bally's is also open to other avenues for a deal, so we just don't know what will happen and on what timeline yet.
Foolish takeaway
While the dates that Star Entertainment has published give us an idea of when the shares may begin trading again, we can only speculate.
The next announcement from the company will give us further clues.
Based on the late April deadline for the drawdown of the bridge loan, it's likely we will hear from Star before the end of next month.
Star Entertainment shares snapshot
Star Entertainment shares have fallen 79% over the past 12 months.
