Kerry Packer's PBL Buys Into Sydney SuperDome

Australian media mogul Kerry Packer has added the Sydney SuperDome entertainment complex to his portfolio of interests in a deal reported to be worth A$12 million ($8.4 million).

Packer's company Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd. (PBL) has bought the leasehold and management rights for the venue in Homebush, West Sydney, until 2031. One of Packer's companies, Ticketek, already owns the ticketing rights to the venue.

Millennium Partnership, the company that previously held the lease, went into receivership this year.

The SuperDome, owned by public body the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, was built at a cost of A$205 million ($143.5 million) to host the gymnastics and basketball fixtures for the 2000 Olympic Games.

While it has attracted major events as the local record industry's ARIA awards, Disney On Ice and concerts by Rod Stewart and Neil Diamond, the venue posted a pre-tax loss of A$10.5 million ($7.35 million) in the last financial year.

It is expected that the PBL-owned news, entertainment and download Website ninemsn will Webcast concerts from the SuperDome.

PBL owns and operates the country's highest rating free-to-air TV network the Nine Network, as well as Australia's largest magazine publisher, Australian Consolidated Press, and the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne. Its interests in the music industry include a partnership with tour promoter Paul Dainty on Dainty Consolidated Entertainment.