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Primrose Riordan

This Month

Jon Adgemis left KPMG to build a hospitality empire. It has since fallen into serious financial difficulty.

Jon Adgemis fails in bid to conceal bankruptcy pursuit over $26m debt

The former KPMG dealmaker turned publican had argued that revealing details of the dispute could cause the collapse of his troubled hospitality empire.

Andrew Forrest

Fortescue heart-to-hearts make unionisation redundant: Forrest

Chairman Andrew Forrest reckons his staff are unlikely to unionise, as workplace reforms bring unions back into the nation’s most lucrative export industry.

El Jannah started as a single store in suburban Granville when it was founded in 1998 by Andre and Carole Estephan.

Cult chicken chain El Jannah says sales will push $300m this year

The popular Lebanese outlet’s chief executive is planning to nearly triple the number of stores in the next two years as it takes on major fast-food chains.

January

The 55-storey tower proposed for the corner of Sydney’s Hunter and Pitt streets.

Merricks’ flagship credit fund goes negative after Sydney CBD pain

Documents circulated to investors in the $1.2 billion vehicle noted there were four loans performing worse than expected amid a difficult office market.

Luxury apartment in Gurner complex offered at $1.3m discount

The Saint Moritz development, popular with Melbourne’s elite, boasts a 25-metre pool and a bar. But it has also been the subject of complaints about defects.

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Gemi Investments specialises in lending to developers for commercial property projects.

$300m private credit fund blocks investor redemptions to preserve cash

Gemi Investments’ safest vehicle has lent about $300 million to commercial real estate projects, and backers say their money is stuck.

A senior broker at Lazarus Capital Partners has been accused of fraud.

Former Lazarus broker accused of fraud, investigated by ASIC

The firm’s one-time senior dealer allegedly directed clients to pay his personal bank accounts by “amending” the Sydney company’s invoices.

Private credit star Metrics is bringing cheap(er) wine to Rockpool

The founder of Metrics, one of the biggest non-bank lenders, has his hands full overhauling Rockpool – and defending the booming sector from its critics.

  • Updated
The chairman of Winsway Coking Coal, Xingchun Wang, who shares the same name as a person who last week became a minority shareholder in Star Entertainment.

Star’s Macau mystery man is a coal magnate with a taste for luxury

Why did Xingchun Wang choose now to invest in Australia’s gambling industry? The plot thickens in casino-friendly Macau, the Chinese special administrative region where he resides.

Star’s bid for a tax relief has been brushed off by NSW and Queensland.

NSW and Qld unmoved by Star’s renewed plea for tax relief

NSW Premier Chris Minns was emphatic the government would not offer respite to the struggling gaming company whose casinos are ailing.

James Packer’s girlfriend, Renee Elizabeth Blythewood, posted pictures of him dining with Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

James Packer dines with Trump, Elon Musk

New social media photos show the Australian billionaire seated with Elon Musk and the new president at dinner in Mar-a-Lago.

While most big investors have been trying to offload their Star holdings, the mystery man has been buying up.

On the trail of Star Entertainment’s mystery Macau shareholder

Who is Xingchun Wang, and what does he want with the ailing operator of casinos in Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast that is teetering on the brink of collapse?

Prominent investor Alex Waislitz and property developer Tim Gurner. Mr Waislitz has accused Mr Gurner’s Gurner Group of delays and defects at its Saint Moritz development.

Alex Waislitz and Tim Gurner feud over luxury St Kilda tower

The wealthy businessmen are at loggerheads over problems at the Saint Moritz development. Mr Waislitz says Mr Gurner is trying to silence residents.

They built a $180m office but struggling to get tenants

The vacancies in towers built on the back of private credit come amid difficult times for developers, more of which are falling into administration.

 MaxCap-backed Byron Plaza could be put up for sale after the collapse of its developer, Luxcon Group.

MaxCap investor groups face off over stalled Byron Bay project

The private credit firm is contemplating selling the development site in a move it has warned could mean one group of investors will end up losing its money.

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An artist render of the Hyde Park apartment project that MaxCap is hoping to sell.

MaxCap warns of real estate fund return slump and asset fire sales

The private credit firm has told investors that an “extended period of high market volatility” had hurt the viability of some of its real estate investments.

  • Updated
Richard Weinberg and Adam Shell from the Terrace Tower Group.

The secretive Saunders family is going all in on lending to the rich

The late John Saunders founded Westfield with Frank Lowy. The family investment vehicle sees plenty of opportunities in helping the cash-strapped wealthy.

December 2024

Gerry Harvey.

Gerry Harvey reveals his biggest problem with property development

The retail billionaire and sideline property investor says costs will keep rising, and that’s bad for projects – as well as for the people who work on them.

  • Updated
The Wellington Health precinct being developed by APH and financed by MaxCap.

Investor letters reveal private credit exposure to collapsed developer

APH Holding fell into administration last week, owing several lenders significant sums. Correspondence shows how short one lender, MaxCap, is on a project.

APH Holding’s flagship project is a health precinct in Box Hill, financed through a loan provided by non-bank lender MaxCap.

Major developer APH collapses, sending ripples through private credit

The Melbourne company had already put many of its projects on the market. Its biggest lender, MaxCap, says it expects to be repaid in full.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/primrose-riordan-hvf7a