“The worst is behind Crown now,” he said. “You’ve got a little bit more clarity on what the company looks like... so people will be able to assess the value of these assets and these licences going forward. There’s going to be a lot more news over the next three, six months.”

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Forager Funds chief investment officer Steve Johnson said $12.50 undervalued the company but that taking Crown into private hands made sense and would likely happen eventually.

“Public markets are unlikely to attribute an appropriate value to these assets... so it makes a lot of sense for someone to buy it and I think Blackstone is a very logical party to buy it,” said Mr Johnson, whose fund has a small stake in Crown.

“The price is underwhelming. I think there’s a deal to be done here, but there’s a lot of water to flow yet,” he said.

However, Mr Johnson said there was no point giving Blackstone due diligence until Crown knew it was willing to pay the right price.

Sources familiar with Blackstone’s offer said it believes it can secure a binding deal with Crown before Christmas and finalise the sale - including gaining approval from state gambling regulators - by April 2022.

The ASX-listed Star will face public hearings in March next year in NSW into its management of money laundering and criminal infiltration risks, which industry watchers say could prevent it making another play for Crown.

JP Morgan analyst Don Carducci said the appointment of a government “special manager” to oversee Crown for the next two years to ensure it reforms itself - which was a key outcome from the Victorian royal commission - could be enough for regulators or Crown to decide it is too soon to change ownership.

“[Crown] has rejected bids previously due to timing (and price), and we reiterate the additional level of decision-making required for approval,” he said in a note to clients. “[Crown] (and/or special manager) is likely to reject this bid for various and differing reasons… valuation, regulatory, or otherwise.”

A spokesman for Victorian gaming minister Melissa Horne said the takeover would “be subject to rigorous probity assessment and approval by the Victorian regulator” but would not comment on whether it would accept a change in ownership during Crown’s two-year supervised reform process.

Blackstone applied for probity approval from gambling regulators in Victoria, NSW and WA around 14 months ago.

Crown’s shares jumped more than 16 per cent on Friday to $11.54 per share. Mr Carducci said that shares trading well below the offer price showed the market was “clearly conscious of the potential conditions and risk” attached to the offer.

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