Italian billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli one of the big winners from sell-off of NSW land title registry
AN Italian billionaire who is married to a former Miss UK has emerged as one of the biggest winners of the privatisation of the land title registry.
NSW
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AN Italian billionaire who is married to a former Miss UK has emerged as one of the biggest winners of the privatisation of the land title registry.
But the millions Swiss-based Ernesto Bertarelli will trouser from homebuyers in NSW will hardly register on his $20 billion fortune.
Mr Bertarelli’s company Northill Capital paid $160 million to buy out struggling fund manager Hastings Management, which took over the land titles registry with First State Super last year.
Hastings went on to rebrand its international business as Vantage Infrastructure in April.
Opposition finance spokesman Clayton Barr said the registry was making at least $130 million a year, some of which “is clearly going to fund Mr Bertarelli’s next superyacht”.
Mr Bertarelli owns the $175 million superyacht Vava II, which was hand built by 200 craftsmen in Portsmouth and costs $450,000 just to fill the fuel tanks.
He also has a passion for racing, his yachting team Alinghi went on to win the America’s Cup twice.
He is married to former Miss UK Kirsty Roper, a successful songwriter who penned the hit Black Coffee for British girl band All Saints.
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Mr Bertarelli has a set up a foundation to work on philanthropic projects around the world including a marine reserve in Chagos.
A spokeswoman for Northill confirmed it was the majority owner of Vantage Infrastructure, which manages the funds that have a stake in the registry.
“Northill does not own a piece of the land registry; our clients own it,” she said.