Annette Sharp: James Packer heads to US on gigayacht, won’t return for Crown casino opening
Billionaire James Packer has left Australia following this week’s gaming inquiry and has no plans to return for the opening of his $2.4 billion flagship casino, Sydney’s Crown at Barangaroo, in December, writes Annette Sharp.
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James Packer will not return for the December opening of his $2.4 billion flagship casino, Sydney’s Crown at Barangaroo, regardless of the recommendations made by the Liquor & Gaming Authority inquiry.
On Saturday Packer was cruising the Pacific aboard his $280 million Benetti gigayacht IJE on a course away from Australia.
According to sources close to the billionaire he is headed north to the life he has created for himself in the US, far from the intense media scrutiny given to his humbling appearance before the gaming inquiry last week and the spectre of his family’s celebrated and legendary legacy in this country, with no plans to return to Sydney.
Packer will miss the much-anticipated opening of Crown Sydney in December, something he described in January during a site tour as a “passion project”.
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The businessman is also in no hurry to take possession of his new $60 million penthouse apartment atop his Barangaroo development.
He is headed home — though in no hurry — to Donald Trump’s America, where he still enjoys a measure of anonymity.
The businessman, who is expected to sell down his 36 per cent shareholding in Crown as a result of the inquiry — something he had planned to do anyway — is to spend the next few weeks at sea in French Polynesia dealing with the fallout from the inquiry and the reputational impact to the Crown board and executive before returning to Los Angeles.
While the unforgiving livestream close-up of Packer in his black suit, white shirt and red tie giving evidence to Commissioner Patricia Bergin provided little insight into life on board his pleasure boat, the picture of the magnate confined in what appeared a sterile room suggested the days roll into each other with a degree of monotony on-board the IJE, while Packer’s state of mind can vary by the day.
Missing from Packer’s island touring party on the IJE is Kylie Lim, his girlfriend of recent years.
The model is in Aspen — awaiting Packer’s eventual return.
On Saturday, as Packer’s 108m yacht explored the oceans off Tahiti, keen-eyed yacht watchers observed the IJE sharing waters with the explorer vessel of his one-time great friend, Tom Cruise.
Cruise’s Halter Marine yacht SuRi — named for his daughter as Packer’s boat is named for his three children, Indigo, Jackson and Emmanuelle — was moored just 10 nautical miles away from Packer’s boat in Papa’ete, the French Polynesian capital.
What looked like an orchestrated meeting to those curious to know if Packer and Cruise have rekindled their friendship, and intrigued to see if a spiritual quest — and the rewards promised by Scientology — might again appeal to the embattled casino owner, turned out to be little more than coincidence as Cruise is shooting MI-7 in Rome.
The actor’s boat, at 63m and boasting seven staterooms and a helipad, looks like a boxy Sydney ferry next to Packer’s sleek 108m pleasure craft.
SuRi is on the market for $23 million following a hefty price reduction of $20 million earlier this year.
After reconnecting with his three children, who are with ex-wife Erica in Los Angeles, Packer plans to head to his West Buttermilk property in Aspen for Christmas, as has become an annual tradition for the businessman.
Originally published as Annette Sharp: James Packer heads to US on gigayacht, won’t return for Crown casino opening