Sydney- Publishing and Broadcasting Limited today announced its intention to split its businesses into two publicly listed companies, gaming company Crown and media company Consolidated Media Holdings. PBL said it believes the split will better facilitate recognition of the value of the group’s underlying assets, and will create two “pure-play” companies with attractive investment characteristics. Crown will own a diversified portfolio of gaming assets, including the Crown and Burswood casinos and a 41.4% stake in Macau-based Melco PBL Entertainment Limited. Consolidated Media Holdings (CMH) will hold investments in media assets including PBL Media (50%), Foxtel (25%), Fox Sports (50%), Seek (27.1%) and Ticketek (100%). In addition to shares in Crown and CMH, shareholders will receive cash of approximately A$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) as part of the restructure. Announcing the transaction, PBL Executive Chairman James Packer, said: “Over the past 12 months we have successfully recapitalised our investment in PBL Media and at the same time we have seen strong earnings growth in our new media businesses including our Pay TV interests.