Twiggy shuts down talk of a secret child, or three; Cutting in on the Endeavour wave

Andrew Forrest has responded to the scuttlebutt in one of his first interviews since announcing he and Nicola were separating.

It’s the nasty little rumour that plenty of people seem to be giggling about, especially over in the west. It is the one about mining magnate and billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest having a love child somewhere in or around Perth, and which might have caused some marital friction and perhaps led to the eventual ending of his marriage.

Sometimes the rumour was so strong that there were people who swore they knew someone who knew someone who overheard that they knew a couple whose own baby went to kindergarten with the secret Twiggy offspring.

Now Twiggy has decided to end the silly rumour mongering and finally address the matter.

In an interview with The Australian’s Europe correspondent Jacquelin Magnay, he ruled out the rumour as sheer rubbish and totally untrue.

In one of his first interviews since announcing in July that he and wife Nicola Forrest were separating after 31 years of marriage, and dividing their $35bn fortune, Forrest said it was “business as usual” for his companies and foundation, Fortescue, Minderoo and Tattarang.

“We have had precisely no change, we always knew we would give our wealth away, if you look at it, we are only trustees, and we’ve stayed trustees,’’ he said.

Forrest then firmly hosed down the persistent rumour of the past few months. No, he has had no love child, and that the latest talk wasn’t about him having a secret baby, but that he had supposedly had found the time to father three of them!

“Get up to speed’’, he told Magnay, laughing and then firmly saying he has had no children since the birth of his youngest child with Nicola, son Sydney, at least two decades ago.

Holiday vibes

Isn’t it the worst when you go on holidays and your work follows you?

That surely must have crossed the mind of Endeavour chairman Peter Hearlwhen he was relaxing in Hawaii recently and there were reports that the man trying to barge his way into the Endeavour boardroom, Bill Wavish, was also there somewhere on the main Hawaiian or nearby islands.

Talk about bad luck. It is unknown if their paths crossed as either walked down the beach, cocktail in hand and sporting one of those wonderful Hawaiian shirts, but the idea of them bumping into each other is just too delicious not to think about.

Both Hearl and Wavish are now back in Australia and preparing for the proxy war now under way as Wavish tries to get elected to the Endeavour board, helped by pubs billionaire Bruce Mathieson Sr, and Hearl tries everything he can to stop him.

That proxy war is now ramping up ahead of the Endeavour AGM slated for the end of the month and, given the AFL and NRL seasons are over, the next best thing could be to grab a ringside seat as that shareholder meeting promises to be one of the most gruelling, boisterous and combative AGMs in years.

The Hawaii islands may not be big enough as Endeavour rivals Peter Hearl and Bill Wavish both holiday there. Picture: Getty Images

The lobbying of large institutional investors continues. Rebel candidate Wavish has met this week with AustralianSuper, which is Endeavour’s third-largest shareholder after the Mathieson family and Woolworths, with that meeting led by the super fund’s head of Australian equities, Shaun Manuell.

Elsewhere, Wavish has also met with Adelaide-based investment fund Argo Investments and its analyst Brydie Lloyd-Roberts. Argo has 3 million shares in Endeavour.

It is believed there have also been meetings by the Wavish camp with other fund managers including L1 Capital run by Raphael Lamm and Mark Landau.

There is now a growing feeling that Woolworths chairman Scott Perkins needs to weigh in sooner rather than later on this growing corporate brawl, with the supermarkets giant still holding 9.1 per cent of Endeavour after the 2021 demerger and a partial selldown of its holding.

In another wonderful coincidence, much like the Hawaiian “funny meeting you here!” possibility, Woolworths will hold its own AGM only six days before the Endeavour cage match. No doubt Perkins will be asked then to finally reveal which way it will vote its shares, and if it supports the election of Wavish to the board.

Win some, lose some

It has been tough times for billionaire Mathieson at the moment, who has had to watch his beloved Carlton lose an AFL preliminary final and the value of his big investment in Endeavour fall as his battle with that company’s board becomes increasingly bitter.

Pub baron Mathieson is down about $415m on his Endeavour shares and he’s not having too much luck with his other big listed investment, casino group Star Entertainment, either.

Then there is Mathieson’s investment in private broker Ord Minnett, via which he had done much of his Star share buying.

Mathieson backed Ord’s boss Karl Morris (also chairman of our favourite NRL team, the Brisbane Broncos) in a 2019 deal to acquire Ords in a $164m deal with financial services firm IOOF and JPMorgan.

Ords is a nice earner for all concerned, though its financial performance dipped this year. According to its 2023 annual report recently lodged with the corporate regulator, profits for Ords dipped about 31 per cent from last year to about $17m and revenue was down slightly at $218m. Mathieson and Morris did at least share in $24.2m dividends paid during the 2023 financial year, with another $8.25m dividend paid in August.

Joyce in bargain bin

Talk about brutal. Spotted in the Qantas terminal at Sydney airport was the biography on Alan Joyce, former Qantas boss front and centre at the bookshop. Only just released it was tagged a “bestseller” on the desk but was already being marked down 10 per cent.

Not sure if there is much hope the biography on Joyce could resurrect his reputation among the flying public, or his own staff, and it would be interesting to know that if any baggage handlers noticed a suitcase or bag with the Joyce book inside they might have waved the baggage off to an airport in Port Hedland in the Pilbara – as the passenger headed for Melbourne.

No deal at Pact

It’s rare that a board of directors, or hell, anyone to be honest, can stick two fingers up to a billionaire and say thanks but no thanks, we aren’t interested in your lowball deal.

But that is exactly what has happened after the independent directors of packaging company Pact rejected the takeover offer from their own chairman, billionaire Raphael Geminder, who also owns just over 50 per cent of the company.

Raphael Geminder’s offer has been turned down. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Geminder is offering 68c a share, which was only a sliver of a premium to the share price when the bid was made last month, and which has seen the Pact share price trade above that takeover price since. It is now around 70c.

Those brave directors have slapped down their chairman’s bid to label it “neither fair nor reasonable” and to be below the independent expert’s estimated value of a Pact share of $1.06 to $1.51.

Geminder’s backers argue that price range is a whole of company valuation in the event that a third party acquires the business – which is unlikely as Geminder already owns more than 50 per cent.

Thanks, but no thanks

In what may amount to be among the less welcome interventions in the yes campaign for the voice to parliament referendum, PwC Australia chief executive Kevin Burrowes has found the time to weigh in on the upcoming vote.

In a note to staff circulated on Friday, Burrowes, who showered himself in glory in the halls of parliament on Thursday, bookended his message to staff with a whisper for the yes case.

Burrowes told staff the looming vote was a “hugely important time”, urging staff to “feel informed ahead of voting”.

This, coming from the new boss of an organisation that must be the winner for Most Trashed Reputation of the Year.