Sam Gazal, media investor and colourful Sydney deal-maker, dies at age 87

Gazal, 87, who rode the corporate boom of the 1980s with a string of high-profile food and media deals, passed away on Wednesday.

Sam Gazal at opening of Tiger Lane restaurant at Double Bay in 1998.

Sam Gazal, the Sydney businessman who rose to prominence in Australia’s media and property sectors during the 1980s and 1990s, has died aged 87.

Mr Gazal was best known for his role in Sunshine Broadcasting, the regional Queensland television network in which he became a major shareholder during the last media consolidation wave. Sunshine held commercial TV licences across the Sunshine Coast and parts of Queensland, and was ultimately sold to Kerry Stokes’ Seven Network, expanding Seven’s national broadcasting footprint.

The investment was a hallmark of Mr Gazal’s corporate style — high-risk, opportunistic, and willing to back bold plays in industries undergoing transformation. His foray into media came after a career of corporate gambles, both failures and successes, most notably his time at the helm of Panfida Foods.

Sydney-born Mr Gazal began his career in the early 1970s as managing director of Gazal Industries, a clothing company owned by his uncle. This laid the groundwork for his later ventures across resources, food, media, and property.

In the late 1980s, Mr Gazal co-founded Panfida Foods with venture capitalist Bill Ferris and stockbroker Peter Wenzel, building a food empire that at its peak controlled more than a dozen businesses from frozen pastries under the Croissant de Paris brand to the Cookie Man retail chain and the bakery equipment firm Auto-Bake.

Panfida listed on the Australian Stock Exchange during the corporate boom of the 1980s, but collapsed into liquidation in 1992 after a failed refinancing attempt. The fallout left behind a trail of high-profile creditors and shareholders.

Mr Gazal and his co-directors personally lost tens of millions of dollars in the disaster, which became one of the more notorious failures of the era.

Despite the setback, Mr Gazal continued to pursue other opportunities. His stake in Sunshine Broadcasting, and its eventual sale to Seven, was regarded as a savvy post-crash comeback, reflecting his ability to spot value in assets others overlooked.

Later, Mr Gazal quietly built a portfolio of property investments becoming a Palm Beach resident and cultivating his private company, Roslyndale. His last known entrepreneurial effort was as chair of delisted K2 Energy, a penny stock listed on Australia’s secondary exchange which owned stakes in solar energy companies.

A spokesperson for the Gazal family confirmed he died on Wednesday.

Originally published as Sam Gazal, media investor and colourful Sydney deal-maker, dies at age 87