Senior investors at one of Qantas’ biggest shareholders are members of the airline’s exclusive Chairman’s Lounge, usually reserved for high-profile figures and executives of publicly listed companies.
Pendal Group’s head of equities, Crispin Murray, and the fund manager’s lead Qantas analyst, Sondal Bensan, are members of the invitation-only lounge. Pendal, which is now owned by Perpetual, has been one of Qantas’ biggest shareholders since 2013 and the airline’s stock is now worth about 4 per cent of its total Australian holdings.
The Chairman’s Lounge perks have raised concerns about Qantas’ influence over its members.Credit: AFR
Government regulators, High Court judges and politicians have come under fire recently over their memberships to the elite lounge, following a report by The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column, which revealed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s 23-year-old son Nathan had been issued a membership.
The initial report sparked concerns about the airline’s influence over swaths of sectors that govern it, and prompted notable figures, including Australian Competition and Consumer Commission boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb and Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair Joseph Longo to declare their memberships.
A Pendal spokesperson said the memberships of Bensan and Murray had been disclosed to Pendal and Perpetual and did not violate either company’s code of conduct.
“Both companies have policies in place to avoid or manage any conflicts and to ensure that our fiduciary obligations to clients are upheld at all times,” a spokesperson said.
The senior Pendal investors are not the only fund managers or major Qantas shareholders with memberships to the lounge, with a number of people familiar with the guest list confirming other major shareholders have been invited to the six lounges and the other perks that come with it, which can often include free flight upgrades, a dedicated customer service line and prioritised boarding.
Many fund managers also have access to Virgin Australia’s equivalent invitation-only Beyond lounge, formerly known as The Club.
Qantas does not comment on who has access to the lounge due to “privacy reasons”, or who utilises the other benefits. Invitations are extended by the chief executive for a two-year period and renewed at the discretion of the airline. No fees are charged to any members.
In a recent submission to the Senate after the inquiry into bilateral air rights agreements, Qantas doubled down on its refusal to identify individual members. It did confirm the senior leaders of key Commonwealth departments and agencies had been offered access to its six lounges, along with senior military members and chief commissioners, and chief executives of “key agencies”.
Pendal owns 5 per cent of Qantas and is the second-largest shareholder of Nine Entertainment, which owns this masthead and The Australian Financial Review. A number of Nine executives are also members of the Chairman’s Lounge and Virgin’s Beyond lounge.
Pendal’s relationship with Qantas has been in the spotlight this month after Rear Window revealed that Bensan holds 1,137,680 Qantas shares in his own name, making him the 28th biggest shareholder of the airline stock.
The majority of these shares were acquired in 2013 and approved by Pendal, and are independently audited every year. It is not rare for individual analysts to have personal holdings in their employer’s key stocks, and there is no implication by this masthead that Bensan’s Qantas hold is improper.
The airline business’ once enviable share price has plummeted by almost 30 per cent over the past six months to $4.73.
Qantas was approached for comment.
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