Firms: Ashurst (Crown Resorts Limited); Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (Crown Resorts Limited); Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Melco Crown Entertainment)

Deal: Crown Resorts Limited (Crown) has sold its interests in Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (MCE).

Value: $1.9 billion

Area: M&A

Key players: The legal team advising Crown was comprised of a number of Ashurst partners.

This team was led by corporate partners Phil Breden (pictured), Anton Harris and Garry Besson, and SDG partner Jamie Ng.

The team was supported by banking partner Rob Ritchie, tax partner Barbara Phair and corporate partner Joshua Cole.

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Deal significance: With this deal, Crown has now completed two transactions in respect of its shareholding in Melco Crown Entertainment.

Firstly, Crown has completed an underwritten sale of 40.9 million MCE shares (equivalent to approximately 13.6 million MCE American Depository Shares (ADSs) and approximately 2.8 per cent of MCE shares outstanding) for US$5.33 per MCE share (equivalent to US$16 per MCE ADS), completed on 20 December 2016.

In conjunction with the underwritten sale, Crown also entered into an economic hedge, by way of cash settled equity swaps, over 81.9 million MCE shares (equivalent to 27.3 million MCE ADSs and just over 5.5 per cent of MCE shares outstanding) for US$5.33 per MCE share (equivalent to US$16 per MCE ADS).

Secondly, Crown has completed a sale of 198 million MCE shares (equivalent to 66 million MCE ADSs or 13.4 per cent of MCE shares outstanding to Melco Leisure and Entertainment Group Limited, a subsidiary of Melco, completed on 16 February 2017.

This transaction has reduced Crown's shareholding to 11.2 per cent of MCE shares, with an economic hedge referencing just over 5.5 per cent of MCE shares and generated proceeds of approximately $1.9 billion.