After years of ‘torture’, Clive Palmer settles Coolum villa battle

Clive Palmer has quietly settled his long-running legal battle with defiant villa owners at his Sunshine Coast golf resort.

Battle over … villa owner Chris Shannon sits beside the controversial fence built by resort owner, billionaire Clive Palmer. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer has quietly settled his long-running legal battle with defiant villa owners on the grounds of his mouldering Sunshine Coast golf resort, agreeing to pay nearly $21m in an attempt to finally seize total control of the former five-star property.

Villa owner Chris Shannon said the settlement – approved by the Federal Court in Brisbane on Monday – was the end of years of “torture” by former federal MP Mr Palmer.

“He’s tortured the owners for nearly seven years. I just want it finished,” Mr Shannon told The Australian from his now-dilapidated villa at the Coolum resort.

“Some owners will be delighted with the settlement, they will be partying, but there’re others who have mixed feelings. They’ll be very disappointed because they were hoping to get the resort restored to its former glory and spend time there.”

Most of the quarter-share villa owners – including Mr Shannon, who bought in 1995 – have been unable to enjoy their holiday homes for years, after Mr Palmer shut off power and water to the villas in 2012 and again in 2015, when the resort was mothballed.

Clive Palmer in Bundaberg.

About 2013, Mr Palmer installed more than 160 plastic dinosaurs, some along the golf fairways, at the resort, and built a “Palmer Motorama” exhibit to house 85 of his antique and prestige cars.

“It was a very, very special place (before Mr Palmer) … there have been three generations of families in some of the villas, and they’ve had their best times ever in this place,” Mr Shannon said.

About six months ago, a long fence was built to block some of the timeshare villas’ golf course view.

“It’s just one of the things Clive has done to try and upset us, but it hasn’t,” Mr Shannon said.

“We’ve got more important things to worry about than a 200-metre wooden paling fence down the 18th fairway.”

A legal source said the $20.8m settlement was a win for the “little guys”, while Mr Palmer told the Federal Court he had agreed to the terms of the deal, which would see him offer $65,013 for each villa interest. It is estimated the current full value of each share is roughly $120,000, including interest and levy fees.

A quiet beer for relieved Villa owner Chris Shannon resting on the wood fence built to separate them form the gold course (to the left of frame), outside his villa, at the Palmer Coolum Resort. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Mr Palmer has been locked in a complex, many-fronted legal fight with more than 300 quarter-share villa owners at the resort since 2012, after buying the former five-star Hyatt Regency Coolum the year before.

He initially bought some owners out for about $65,000, but fell foul of corporate regulator ASIC when he launched an aborted takeover bid in April 2012 offering about $55,000 per share.

Federal Court judge Andrew Greenwood on Monday agreed Mr Palmer would pay $20.8m, subject to the supervision of the court, and was required to make offers to buy out the remaining villa owners within a week.

If villa owners did nothing, they would receive the $65,013 and their interest would be transferred to Mr Palmer. If they objected, they could apply to the court within 21 days for a different outcome.

While some observers of the case believe a handful of villa owners might hold out and reject the settlement, barrister Robert Newlinds SC – for the owners – told the court it was unlikely, with many being elderly widows.

“It’s highly unlikely anyone will be against it,” Mr Newlinds said.

“If they want to row their own canoe and not take the $65,013, that’s a matter for them, if they want to start their own (legal) case, they can do that. If they want to stay as a tiny minority in a company that’s dominated by Mr Palmer, that’s a matter for them … but being sensible, we don’t think that’ll happen.”

He said he believed that from a commercial perspective, the settlement proposal was “fair and reasonable”.

If Mr Palmer ends up with more than 90 per cent ownership, he could try to force a compulsory sale of the remaining properties under the Corporations Act.

A spokesman for Mr Palmer said the fence was not to block the view but to separate titles.

The villas were built in the 1980s.