SYDNEY, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Crown Resorts Ltd (CWN) on Tuesday said its biggest shareholder, Australian billionaire James Packer, will return to the casino company's board less than a month after it announced its near-total exit from global gaming hubs Las Vegas and Macau.
Packer's return comes just over a year after he left the board ahead of a mooted strategy to take the company private, and as part of a major executive reshuffle as the firm scales back its global expansion plans.
"There was the privatisation plan ... that was all about a global growth play and it seems like that is completely out of the picture now," said Mathan Somasundaram, a strategist with stockbroker Baillieu Holst.
Robert Rankin would step down as chairman to be replaced by long-time Packer lieutenant John Alexander on Feb. 1, the company said in a statement. Rankin would remain on the board.
In a surprise trading update on Dec. 15, the company scrapped plans to build a casino in Nevada, said it would sell half its stake in Macau-focused Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd
and cancelled plans to spin off its international assets. [L4N1E95NH] ($1 = 1.3585 Australian dollars)
