Packer’s ‘admiral’ looking to cash in on appeal of Mittagong property Kennerton Green
FOR three decades he lived a sweet, touched existence as part of James Packer’s trusted inner circle, but today Matthew Csidei’s local projects are somewhat smaller
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FOR three decades he lived a sweet, touched existence as part of James Packer’s trusted inner circle.
And then suddenly Matthew Csidei, son of Hungarian immigrant-turned-gangster Bela Csidei, was expelled from Packer’s inner sanctum, banished, or so it appears.
There has been plenty of speculation during the past year about what prompted Packer to call an end, in 2017, to the men’s once tight association — one that had seen “Ched” installed as the “admiral” of the billionaire’s fleet of nautical pleasure craft and as project manager of Packer’s $70 million Vaucluse house build in the years prior to the breakdown of his marriage to second wife Erica.
Csidei quit Sydney in 2014 to base himself in the northern hemisphere where he would oversee construction of Packer’s new superyacht.
After first setting up his young family in London, Csidei moved his clan, wife Lauren Roscoe and their two children, to Monaco where they have since taken up residence in a swank apartment on the Avenue Saint Roman with views all over the Principality of Monaco, from Italy to Cap Ferrat, and overlooking the azure Baie de Roquebrune.
Two-bedroom apartments in the twin building luxury compound start at about €5 million — about $8 million Australian — which is surely the best indication yet that Csidei has done well out of the Packers’ family company CPH, learning much while working for his Cranbrook schoolmate and previously, as a broker, for UBS and Challenger.
Having sold his Watsons Bay home in 2015 for $6,250,000 to Collette Dinnigan — who flipped the five-bedroom home and on-sold it a year later for a bolshie $9 million — Csidei now has only one property in Australia, the 2.25ha Mittagong property Kennerton Green which he bought in 2011 for a song at $1.8 million.
In addition to this he maintains an interest in the Double Bay nightclub Pelicano, in which he’s an investor along with Daimon Downey, Tim Holmes a Court and Andrew Becher, but has largely reduced his local interests and roles including in property development company Manoc Developments where, in 2009, he was installed as director as Manoc started snapping up a sizeable chunk of Vaucluse’s Wentworth Rd for close to $30 million on Packer’s behalf. Packer later built a family compound there.
Csidei has also ended an association with private company Navisone Pty Ltd, where he was a partner with long time Packer accountant Michael Karagiannis.
With his local property portfolio now reduced to just one Mittagong property — and the tap from Packer turned off — Csidei has recently applied for a land application to rent out the Southern Highlands property for “occasional wedding, photographic sessions and small receptions”.
As some of Sydney’s richest property owners can attest, there is good money to be made leasing the family home to companies for one-off marketing events and celebrity sleepovers.
Sources claim multi-millionaire John Boyd recently pocketed in the area of $35,000 for one night at his one of his magnificent homes — the jewel in his property portfolio being his three-storey penthouse atop the ANZ building in the city.
No word on what Csidei plans to charge for a day on the Bong Bong Road property — the DA stating useage will be restricted to daylight hours between 10am-6pm and limit guests to 150 at any one time. Guests, it further states, will “arrive in either taxis or other shared arrangements, such as mini buses, reducing the demand for street parking”, which is put at 70 vehicles to reduce local congestion.
Sources say Csidei will likely use the income to pay for maintenance and upkeep of the property which has a heritage-listed garden once tended by Lady Susan Renouf and Lady Marjorie Pagan and reportedly boasts a tree planted by Margaret Thatcher.
Meanwhile having been released from Packer servitude — which included overseeing construction of Packer’s new super yacht in a European shipyard, a build that is now well behind schedule and over budget at an estimated $200 million — Csidei looks to have a bit still on his plate in Monaco with his father Bela in declining health a six-hour flight away in Hungary.
Despite once having links to the mafia and associating with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bela, who was convicted of growing marijuana in the Northern Territory in 1978 and, according to 2006 biography The Accidental Gangster, was frontman for organised crime boss Abe Saffron, quit Australia for Hungary without much to show for his colourful criminal career.
Luckily his only son is now closer-at-hand to help tend to his needs.