Packer’s assets have grown in value by $500m thanks to his shift to investment

Billionaire James Packer is still thought of by many as a casino king but he sold out of Crown Resorts in 2022 and now has investments in property, shares and football teams.

Revenue for James Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings includes $525m in “fair value gains on financial assets”.

James Packer is more than half a billion dollar richer – in asset terms at least – finding success as an investor in his post-Crown Resorts era.

The financial accounts of the billionaire’s Consolidated Press Holdings, lodged with the corporate regulator on Tuesday, revealed a statutory net profit of $216m for the year to June 30.

Much of the result was boosted by the upwards revaluing of Mr Packer’s increasing diverse range of assets, which allowed CPH to pay him a $119m dividend for the 2023 financial year.

His privately-held company has more than $10.76bn in assets on its balance sheet, and about $4.06bn net assets after taking into account debt and other liabilities.

CPH’s revenue includes $525m in “fair value gains on financial assets”, as well as about $5.7m in profit on the sale of property, plant and equipment for the year. Mr Packer received about $3.3bn from the sale of his holdings in the casino and resorts giant Crown when it was taken over by private equity firm Blackstone in the last week of the 2022 financial year.

He then formed an investment committee at CPH to invest his fortune, including Magellan Financial Group co-founder Hamish Douglass, longstanding CPH executive Guy Jalland and technology entrepreneur Daniel Nadler. Some of Mr Packer’s fortune has been put into property, with The Australian’s Margin Call column previously revealing that he is bankrolling Time & Place’s Hotel Lindrum project in the Melbourne CBD.

Melbourne outfit Time & Place is also undertaking the Sydney residential property development The Chimes in the inner east’s Potts Point in which he has about a 10 per cent stake.

Mr Packer has also been revealed to have invested in a small residential development opportunity in the suburbs of Victorian city Geelong, upon which townhouses worth up to $100m could be built.

The CPH accounts reveal the value of various entities under the company’s umbrella. While many have generic names related to CPH or other Packer investment companies, one called CPH Zillow Holdings Unit Trust is likely to have shares in the US real estate company Zillow.

Otherwise, CPH is previously said to have about $100m directly invested in venture capital Square Peg Capital and co-invested with the venture capital firm in a range of technology companies listed around the world.

CPH has also had an interest with Hollywood actor Robert De Niro in a $US250m luxury resort project called Paradise Found Nobu on the Caribbean Island of Barbuda, as well as a share in NRL club South Sydney.

Mr Packer also has a 40 per cent stake in the successful athleisure-wear operation The Upside, which was started by his first wife, model and fashion entrepreneur Jodhi Meares – who owns the other 60 per cent.

CPH’s accounts lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission are not consolidated, so they do not give a complete picture of Mr Packer’s wealth. But they do provide a snapshot of the large amount of assets under his control and the fluctuations in value each year.