Brisbane bizoid Tony Bellas has just been forced to transfer $1.15 million in stock to his ex-wife

The chairman of Brisbane-based firm Novonix has just been forced to dump 70 per cent of his stock in the battery group as part of a divorce settlement.

Tony Bellas has taken a $1.15m hit to his share portfolio as part of a divorce settlement. Picture: Peter Bull

OUCH! Brisbane bizoid Tony Bellas has just absorbed another king hit to his wallet.

In his capacity as chairman of lithium-ion battery group Novonix, he’s been forced to dump 70 per cent of his stake in the loss-making outfit.

It emerged yesterday that Bellas had to make an off-market transfer of $1.15 million worth of stock in the company last week to his former missus, Maria, as part of a divorce settlement.

The shift of 2.75 million shares left him with just 1.18 million shares in Novonix, which lost another $5.1 million in the half-year to December as it attempts to surf the global pivot to renewables.

Brisbane director Tony Bellas well rewarded for boardroom roles

Tony Bellas; Greg Baynton; Philip Lowe; Chris Mountford; Terry Powell

The massive disposal mirrors a nearly identical transfer that Bellas had to endure earlier this year at Corporate Travel Management, where he previously served as chairman.

Back in March we learned that the court ordered the transfer of 180,836 CTM shares valued at $4.5 million to his ex-wife. That constituted 82 per cent of his stake in the company.

But Bellas copped a ton of flack for the serious delay in reporting the shift of CTM stock out of his family super fund.

It turned out the court had ordered the move back in November but the transfer didn’t occur until mid-February allegedly without his knowledge.

Bellas said he thought the money would be held in escrow until a typographical error in the order was corrected and then informed the market as soon as he was surprised to learn about the transfer.

He did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

SPEED BUMP

Martin Ward and the gang at Brisbane-based AP Eagers have just hit a speed bump in their $2.3 billion takeover bid for rival Automotive Holdings Group.

The ACCC announced yesterday that it had “preliminary concerns’’ about the merger, especially the impact on competition in new car retailing in the Newcastle/Hunter Valley region of NSW.

“A combined AP Eagers and AHG would operate 46 per cent of new car dealership sites in the Newcastle/Hunter Valley region, including those for the ten most popular brands, and runs 54 per cent of the dealership sites selling those brands,’’ acting chair Delia Rickard said.

“In metropolitan Newcastle alone, the combined company would operate 77 per cent of dealership sites selling the ten most popular brands.”

AP Eagers’ Martin Ward.

But this stumbling block is unlikely to scupper the marriage of the nation’s two biggest auto retailers, especially since regulators found it was unlikely to diminish competition in the major markets of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

AP Eagers, which already owns 29 per cent of AHG, was quick to make that point, saying the fusion of the two giants “will not substantially lessen competition in any market,’’ including the aforementioned part of NSW.

Industry analysts believe the easiest way for AP Eagers to address the ACCC concerns is to simply dispose of some of its assets in the Newcastle/Hunter Valley area.

Assuming this is enough to get the deal over the line, the merged group would have 229 new-car outlets across Australia and control 12 per cent of the market.

FIVE YEAR BAN

A Cairns tourism operator has been banned from managing companies for five years after three of his businesses failed since 2012, collapsing with collective debts of $1.1 million.

Leigh Alan Jorgensen previously ran now-defunct Trek North Tours, which offered rainforest trips to Kuranda and Cape Tribulation.

Cairns tourism operator Leigh Alan Jorgensen.

Last year he was sentenced to 12 months behind bars and fined nearly $85,000 for contempt of court after breaching a freeze order on company funds but he ended up serving just 10 days in jail.

Back in 2015, a court fined Trek North Tours $55,000 and Jorgenson another $12,000 after it ruled that he had underpaid overseas backpackers by $30,000.

Jorgensen could not be reached for comment yesterday.