Annette Sharp: James Packer, ex-wife Erica and their children set sail for a Mediterranean summer

Three billion dollars richer and 30kg (and counting) lighter, billionaire businessman James Packer is set to spend the coming summer on his $300m superyacht, writes Annette Sharp.

Three billion dollars richer following the sale of his 37 per cent share of Crown Resorts to US private equity fund Blackstone, on Friday James Packer was en route to Italy to limber up for the “third act” of his life — and another summer among the European jet set.

The billionaire is swapping the privacy and remoteness of his $50 million Mexican hacienda for the glamour and cultural versatility of his $300 million luxury yacht as he embarks on his traditional annual cruise of the Mediterranean with a cavalcade of family and friends.

Joining him this year will be ex-wife Erica and the couple’s three children, Indigo, 13, Jackson, 12, and nine-year-old Emmanuelle, who are expected to arrive within days.

A decade after separating, the single-again Packer and Erica are now on excellent terms, family sources told this column last week, and committed to working on their relationship for the sake of their children.

As an extension of that, Erica has agreed to renovate her ex-husband’s $72 million apartment atop what was to have been his Crown Casino development at Barangaroo.

Australian billionaire businessman James Packer with his children Indigo (from left), Emmanuelle and Jackson at their luxurious mansion in Mexico. Picture: Ana Badillo

The two-storey apartment is to be the family’s Sydney home base — something the businessman hopes will lead to the children spending more time in Sydney getting to know their Australian family, including their grandmother Ros and Aunt Gretel.

Following the planned renovations, Packer plans to return to Sydney for a family holiday with Erica and the children in the early half of 2023, but reconciliation talk is premature.

The Packers may be spending more time in Sydney in future. Picture: Ana Badillo

Before the family holiday the billionaire is committed to shedding the weight gained during recent years while being treated with “seven different mood-altering (prescription) drugs” for the mental health issues that have plagued him.

Three months after coming off all antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, Packer — when not counting the $3.3 billion made from the sale of his Crown stock — is counting kilojoules.

He has lost 29kg in 12 weeks and plans to be 100kg by the time he arrives in Sydney.

Having pulled his 108m superyacht IJE from the market where it was briefly listed with a British luxury yacht brokerage last year, Packer will have a modern and extensive gymnasium at his disposal during upcoming months, in addition to a cinema, nightclub, pool with bar, bridge deck with firepit, and accommodation for 22 guests.

Also joining him on board for the summer cruise taking in the most beautiful sights off Italy and France will be old friends including Ben Tilley and the recently embattled Hamish Douglass, of Magellan, who remains close to Packer and has become a regular summer guest.

WARM TOASTS AND A BRUSH WITH AFTERLIFE

There were many drinks, many toasts and many memories shared at Woollahra’s Centennial Hotel on Wednesday night when the bereaved friends of Angie Vestey, the granddaughter of royal butchers who went on to successfully run her own resorts in Bali and Ibiza, was remembered and celebrated.

Vestey died in May following a short but heartbreaking illness that, according to sources, resulted in organ failure. She had turned 60 two months prior.

British Aristocrat and part-time Sydney resident Angie Vestey. Picture: Facebook

During her decades in Sydney, Vestey, who made her home in Tamarama, was a much loved member of Sydney’s most fashionable social set.

Former model Jill Waddy counted herself among Vestey’s closest friends and organised the Sydney memorial.

Waddy was joined at the Centennial by retired modelling agent Peter Chadwick and the man who replaced him at the helm of Chadwick’s agency, Martin Walsh and his wife Michelle.

Others in the admittedly raucous party, which eyewitnesses say numbered about 30, included Tom Hughes Jr (the little brother of Lucy Hughes Turnbull), who spoke warmly and wittily about Vestey, Fiona Playfair, Vitek Czernuszyn, Manon Youdale, Nick Greenaway and Deborah Hutton.

The last word, however, we might give to one Facebook friend who said she’d had an afterlife exchange with Vestey in which she’d asked her departed friend what it was like on the other side.

“It’s great,” Vestey replied, “But for God’s sake I wish I could get a *uckin’ drink!”

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Originally published as Annette Sharp: James Packer, ex-wife Erica and their children set sail for a Mediterranean summer