James Packer recruits pack of high-fliers in investment vehicle

James Packer has established a new private investment vehicle with his most trusted ­associates.

James Packer has established a new private investment vehicle with some of his most trusted ­associates. Picture: Aaron Francis

Reclusive Australian billionaire James Packer has established a new private investment vehicle with some of his most trusted ­associates, including media mogul Kerry Stokes, signalling his ­desire to do business in Australia again.

The venture, 2B Investments, is being backed by higher-­education super fund UniSuper and has former leading Macquarie banker Ben Brazil as its principal investment adviser.

The revelation comes as Hong Kong casino magnate Lawrence Ho’s Melco Group late on Thursday abandoned its plan to double its stake in the Mr Packer’s Crown Resorts, blaming the ­impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

Kerry Stokes. Picture: Nikki Short

Mr Packer was paid $880m in cash by Mr Ho last June, which was the first tranche of the Hong Kong businessman’s purchase of half of Mr Packer’s shareholding in the $8bn listed gaming empire.

The second — and now shelved tranche — was set to ­deliver ­another $880m to Mr Packer.

The Australian has learned Mr Packer and the $85bn Uni­Super, which is led by chief executive Kevin O’Sullivan and where John Pearce makes investment decisions, have each taken a 44 per cent stake in the outfit.

Documents reveal that Mr Packer’s investment is held via his private vehicle, Consolidated Press Holdings, with 2B Investments (Australia) Holdings Pty Ltd ­officially registered with the corporate regulator towards the end of last year.

The gaming billionaire, who has homes in Argentina, Los Angeles and Aspen, is represented on the venture’s board by long-serving lieutenant Mike John­ston, also a Crown director and finance manager at CPH.

Mr Packer said during a flying visit to Australia last month that he wanted to spend more time in Sydney after touring Crown’s $2.4bn Barangaroo ­project.

Now London-based, Mr Brazil, who left Macquarie last ­August and is a former Crown ­director, also has a seat on the 2B Investments board and has a 3 per cent equity stake in the fledgling operation.

Mr Stokes, who has acted as something of a father figure to Mr Packer, 52, since his billionaire father Kerry Packer died 14 years ago, has an 8 per cent stake in the new start-up via his private investment vehicle, Wroxby.

Mr Stokes, 79 and worth $5.4bn according to The Australian’s The List, is represented on the new 2B board by Perth-based Brian O’Donnell, who is finance and investments director at Mr Stokes’s private Australian Capital Equity.

UniSuper’s man on the new board is Melbourne-based investment manager Matthew Spence. After receiving his first cheque from Mr Ho last year, Mr Packer foreshadowed entrusting some of the share sale proceeds to Mr Brazil, as well as to fellow fund manager Hamish Douglass, who runs the wildly successful Magellan Financial Group.

This latest deal is not Mr Packer’s first foray into financial services.

He was an early backer of Magellan, which was co-founded by former UBS boss Chris Mackay.

Thanks to Mr Packer’s early support, both men are now on the cusp of becoming billionaires.

Mr Packer, who is estimated to be worth $4.23bn, was also a key investor in annuity group Challenger and has a stake in peer-to-peer lender SocietyOne, also alongside Mr Stokes and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

Mr Packer also has a passive interest in funds management group Ellerston Capital, chaired by former lieutenant Ashok Jacob.

A CHP spokesman declined to comment on the new investment on Thursday.