A case of all in the family for Pillemers

Emma Pill, fashion jewellery.

Entrepreneurship runs in the blood of the Pillemer family.

Fund manager Russel Pillemer started Pengana with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2003, after moving from New York to Sydney to raise his four children with wife Carole.

Since that time he’s helped to grow the firm’s funds under management to more than $3bn, across a range of international and Australian strategies.

But finance isn’t everyone’s calling.

Daughter Emma is counting down to the launch of her jewellery line, the aptly named Emma Pills, with her “capsule collection” to hit the market on Thursday.

Her last name has inspired not just the brand but the design, and she posts videos, filmed at the family’s harbourside mansion, on Instagram asking followers if they are “ready to join the party?”

Emma is an alumni of the prestigious eastern suburbs ­Moriah College (along with sister Ashley, who takes credit for the brand’s visual design content), which boasts long-time Westfield chair Frank Lowy as its patron and daughter Judy Lowy as its board president.

The only question is, whether Dad will take the leap and back the Em Pills investment, too.

Afterpay day

On the subject of notable Moriah alumni, Margin Call would be remiss not to mention poster boy and Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar.

The 30-year-old, who recently became Australia’s youngest self-made billionaire, stands to pump up his personal wealth even further, with only months until the expiry of more than 1.5 million options in the now $22bn company.

Molnar and co-founder Anthony Eisen both hold 1.5 million options at an exercise price of $1, relating to equity awards under the group’s legacy remuneration arrangements, set to expire on December 31.

That’s just over three months to make a tidy profit of $115.5m — given Afterpay’s last trading price of $78.03.

Former executive director David Hancock, one of the first shareholders of the group who left in October last year, holds 200,000 similar options — which could boost his wealth by $15.4m.

Of course, the proceeds are somewhat chump change for the trio who have each amassed vast personal wealth, and there very well could be a possibility that those options lapse. But if we were a betting man we would suggest otherwise.

Heading north

Melburnians looking to escape the extended deprivations of the curfew-bound southern capital and the stern administration of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews continue to make a beeline for the Gold Coast.

A bevy of high-profile residents are already ensconced in luxury homes, including Lindsay Fox’s CEO son, Peter Fox, and more plan to ride out the worst of the crisis in the comforts of sunny Queensland.

One prospective move whispered on the property front would have developer Dean Pask, son of late billionaire Nev Pask, making even more waves on millionaires row.

The beachfront family home of BreakFree accommodation group founder and ex-AFL footballer Tony Smith and wife Simone at Mermaid Beach. Picture: Supplied

Hot on the heels of snaring the Mermaid Beach home of BreakFree founder Tony Smith and wife Simone, and filing plans that would knock over their $25m mansion and replace the oceanfront estate with eight luxury apartments, a new real estate target has emerged.

The Gold Coast circuit has it that Pask may now look at the landmark Tidemark estate on the Gold Coast that was picked up by Melbourne-based toy manufacturer billionaire Manny Stul and wife and partner Jacqui Tobias through their eponymous company Manjac for $25m in 2016.

Spanning 2833sq m of absolute beachfront land at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast, the mansion was previously owned by former Billabong executive Scott Perrin and wife Rachel.

The founders of Moose Enterprises, who produced the famous Shopkins kids’ toy craze, are rumoured to be sellers, but only at a premium price.

Tidemark was once listed at $29.5m and any deal on the 30-plus-room mansion — that sports six ensuite bedrooms, a caretaker’s apartment, two gourmet kitchens, beachfront teppanyaki pavilion, 11-car garage and beachfront entertaining areas — could even top this level.

Kresta blinds pulled

Kresta, Australia’s largest maker of windows and blinds, has had its last day on the ASX, struck from the boards on Wednesday.

The company’s shares had been suspended for more than two years over issues with its reporting standards.

The popular brand, with 18 showrooms across the country, has been publicly listed since 1999, but was majority bought out by Chinese billionaire Xianfeng Lu in 2014 for $34.5m.

Lu Xianfeng

The Western Australia-based Lu has varied investment interests locally and in China, but is perhaps best known for his purchase of a majority stake in the nation’s largest dairy farm previously known as Van Diemen’s Land Company for $280m in 2016 (beating out a local bid from reclusive billionaire Jan Cameron and TasFoods’ Rob Woolley), a deal that raised its own questions in regards to promises made over local investment to then treasurer Scott Morrison.

Under Lu’s majority ownership, Kresta has moved its production offshore, overhauled the board and taken on a number of loans from several Lu-controlled entities, including the dairy company now known as Van Dairy.

But updating the market operator on its movements hasn’t been Kresta’s strong suit. Since the start of the year, the company has blamed late filing of its required disclosure documents on illness, divorce, as well as a director “going through a difficult time”.

The tardiness doesn’t stop with just ownership filings, with delays on the company’s annual report from 2018 prompting its initial suspension from trade in August of that year.

A strategic review to revamp its inventory management was announced at the time, and held up the release of its initial results, with delays attributed to auditor Mazars Risk and Assurance on several occasions after previous auditor Ernst & Young was removed at its AGM in April last year.

It was not until February 21 this year that the 2018 annual report was lodged — signed off by Mazars director Paul Collins.

Following that, its June 2019 half-yearly report was delivered by Bentleys’ Chris Nicoloff — who pointed out the difficulty in completing the review given the continued uncertainty of inventory levels in the previous years.

This week Kresta said the board thought it “better for Kresta to pursue its business and operations as a public unlisted company” … and quite frankly we agree.