PPK chairman Robin Levison doubles money in Li-S Energy

A New Zealand-born accountant has transformed a former Brisbane plastics manufacturer into a billion-dollar tech firm and has high hopes for its latest investment.

Improving battery technology will help extend distance for electric cars.

PPK chairman Robin Levison is a happy man these days with his stake in lithium battery developer Li-S Energy more than doubling since its listing last month.

The New Zealand-born accountant who has transformed PPK, a former Brisbane plastics manufacturer, into a billion-dollar tech firm, is sitting on a stake in Li-S worth $6.1m.

PPK, which owns a 45 per cent stake in Li-S Energy, has a market capitalisation of $1.18bn these days and Levison has his foot on 4.1m shares, worth an impressive $54m.

Another happy investor in Li-S is Deakin University, which originally developed the technology that Levison says will transform lithium batteries in the future, giving them more power and longer life. The university’s 13 per cent stake is worth more than $183m.

He says Deakin has been given a stake in Li-S in return for use of its research, an investment model that is set to be copied in the future as universities seek new funding sources.

Deakin and Li-S Energy have been researching lithium sulphur battery chemistry for 10 years that could give electric cars a 1,000 kilometre range.

A Tesla electric car charges at a Tesla charging station in Berlin.

Over steak and spatchcock at the Fat Cow & Lobster nosh house in Eagle St, Levison tells your diarist that Li-S is not the only iron in the fire at the moment.

PPK is collaborating with Sun Metal Corp in Townsville on a project to use white graphene to coat the sulphuric acid pumps at its zinc refinery. White graphene has been called the strongest material ever made, 100 times stronger than steel, 300 times more bulletproof than Kevlar and harder than diamonds.

PPK Group chairman and Li-S Energy director Robin Levison Photo by Sarah Keayes/The Photo Pitch

Levison tells us that Sun Metals produces around 450,000 tonnes of highly concentrated sulphuric acid each year with pumps and other equipment subject to rapid degradation and often having to be replaced within months of installation.

We hear there is no truth to speculation that golf-tragic Levison is also toying with using white graphene to coat his number one driver as he makes his Sunday rounds of the Indooroopilly Golf Course.

BIG BLUE

Deloitte has beefed up its asset management consultancy, with Brisbane-based Bluefield joining the accounting giant. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Brisbane, Bluefield provides advisory services covering the full life cycle of mining assets – from equipment strategy and planning, reliability improvement and decommissioning. In addition to its Brisbane base, it has 100 people located in offices in Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart. Bluefield executives Gerard Wood, Drew Hislop and Steve Flannery will become Deloitte Consulting partners.

DANCING SHOES

He’s well known for his coffee, but we hear Phillip Di Bella is also a bit of a twinkle toes. Di Bella tells City Beat that he will take part in the annual Dancing CEOs competition next May to raise money for women’s legal services and the prevention of domestic violence.

“Swapping the boardroom for the dance floor is a great cause,” says Di Bella, who will welcome donations. Local businesswoman Lorilie Cunningham raised more than $160,000 in this year’s event. Past dancers have included 99 Bikes’ Matt Turner, P4’s Sarah Broad and Icon Group’s Mark Middleton. Di Bella is a finalist for The Courier-Mail Award for Businessperson of the Year in the upcoming Lord Mayor’s Business Awards. Winners will be announced on October 22.

Phillip Di Bella at the coffee roasters commune in Bowen Hills. Picture: Tertius Pickard

BIG HEART

The commercial property boom has helped a small agency make big numbers for Queensland charities.

Carl Charalambous’ C Property Qld has made a $50,000 donation to the Children’s Cancer Foundation.

Soon after Carl started the Newstead-based agency he set a “strict rule” to donate a percentage of commission from every sale and lease deal to charity.

As well as the Children’s Cancer Foundation, C Property QLD’s eight agents have also contributed to Hummingbird House, RSPCA, Mater Little Miracles, Starlight Foundation, MS Australia, Orange Sky Laundry, Make a Wish Foundation, Sisters Inside, Cancer Survivor Program, Youngcare, Fred Hollows Foundation, Epilepsy Queensland, and Walk for Women.

“This is a very proud moment for C Property which has been recognised and greatly appreciated by the Foundation itself,“ Carl said. “I don’t donate and help others to brag. The reason we are promoting what we do is primarily to encourage others to do the same.

If other successful businesses, not just real estate agencies, can implement this simple yet life changing strategy, the world will be a better place.”