Exiting Woolworths boss Brad Banducci might get around as a man of the people, sporting his staff name tag and empathising with his customers amid their daily struggles to make ends meet.
But how much can the 59-year-old Sydneysider who has run Woolies for the past nine years and will exit at the end of August really know about the cost-of-living crisis and the impact the supermarket duopoly has on everyday Australians?
The guy, who we told you earlier this week has accumulated Woolies stock that could be worth as much as $24m – maybe more – is seriously rich. His imminent retirement, we suggest, will be comfortable.
Banducci’s partner is renowned sculptor wife Anna Dudek. They live in a luxury three-bedroom apartment in the sky in Sydney’s inner city Surry Hills – nearby to where Margin Call earlier this week ran into him enjoying a celebratory steak sandwich and chips post exit announcement. Their city pad at the foot of the CBD offers spectacular views.
Their property portfolio is extensive, including several other holdings in inner Sydney, a $6m-plus warehouse in Redfern and several properties around Bondi.
But it is not just bricks and mortar that Banducci has stuffed his investment portfolio with, having also backed a range of enterprises with his cash.
The Woolies chief is a significant shareholder in what is one of Australia’s fastest growing companies: Fleet Space Technologies. The South Australian space company has developed satellite-enabled technology for hunting critical minerals, which has already been used by Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold and Core Lithium.
Banducci is on the share register alongside his investment banker brother Guy Banducci and his advisory outfit Harbour Capital, as well as Blackbird Ventures and Jeremy Colless’s Artesian Capital.
The Woolies chief has participated in several capital raisings in the company over recent years, having invested directly in his own name. Fleet Space Technologies mid-last year had a valuation of about $350m after completing a $50m raising that was oversubscribed, with Banducci this time investing via his vehicle Alba-Petrus Holdings.
The career retailer has also backed Sydney ice maker Bare Bones Ice Company, in which he has a 30 per cent stake, having been an investor since 2021.
The company’s founder Damien Liot has 60 per cent, while liquor and PR industry veteran Stu Gregor and his wife Sally Lewis have the remaining 10 per cent
The company makes premium clear ice that is sold to a host of up-market bars. It is also available via Dan Murphys and select BWS stores, both of which are owned by Woolies spin-off Endeavour. Woolies still has just under 10 per cent of the group and is considered a “material associate”. Of course you can get the fancy ice at select Woolies Metro stores too.
None of this has been disclosed as a related party deal in the Woolies annual report.
Banducci is also said to have shares in billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
All together so much more than just groceries.
Our poptastic PM
Former DJ-turned-Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese has declared, yes, he is attending the Taylor Swift concert scheduled for way out west on Friday night at Sydney Olympic Park’s Accor Stadium.
But tickets to the hottest show in town don’t come cheap – reserve seats cost $380, with VIP packages for sale for up to $1249 – so how did the PM score his Eras tour seat at what will be the first of the superstar’s Sydney shows?
We asked the PM’s new media rep, Katharine Murphy, whether the PM had forked out to attend the Eras tour himself or whether he’d been given a ticket by some generous corporate.
The Aussie leg of the tour is being presented by Crown Resorts, which told us it did not give Albo his ticket. The concerts have been promoted by the Mushroom Group’s Frontier Touring. Mushroom is owned by American giant Warner Music. In Melbourne Frontier invited the Premier of Victoria Jacinta Allan.
Alas transcripts of interviews that Murphy referred us to during which Albo talked of attending the Sydney show didn’t answer Margin Call’s question, with further inquiries met with stony silence.
Why the secret?
Ring up the tills
Just another day at the office for several of Australia’s billionaires, living large in rarefied air as the sharemarket takes care of their burgeoning wealth.
First, expatriate retail squillionaire Brett Blundy, who according to official corporate records lives in Monaco and has a retail presence crisscrossing the globe.
On Thursday his junk jewellery outfit Lovisa, which listed in December 2014 at $2-a-share, busted through a market value of $3bn for the first time as it released its better than expected first-half numbers.
Blundy has 40 per cent of Lovisa and is the company’s chairman, with his stake now worth $1.2bn, which accounts for a lot of disposable baubles, bangles and bows. His stake increased in value over the course of the day by $113m.
But the sweet treat for the billionaire came via the 50c-a-share dividend that he and his board declared for the half, well beyond what stock watchers were anticipating.
That will see $22m drop into his account in a few weeks.
Blundy was last week in Melbourne to catch up with his new group retail CEO Mark McInnes, who starts at Blundy’s BBRE on Monday after two years of gardening leave from billionaire Solomon Lew’s retail empire.
You’d hope McInnes has managed to negotiate at least some stock in Blundy’s myriad listed retail operations as part of his sign-on deal.
One of Australia’s richest women, Nicola Forrest, raked in some serious coin too, without having to lift a finger.
She might now be the former wife of mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who chairs Fortescue Metals, but the 50m Fortescue shares that were transferred into a vehicle she controls called Coaxial Ventures in the middle of last year sure are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to wealth accumulation.
Twiggy and his board declared a first half dividend of $1.08, so that Nicola will enjoy income to the tune of $54m, also in a few weeks time. That’s on top of the $50m in dividends she netted for the last half.
All up, $104m, with her FMG stake worth $1.4bn.
What cost of living crisis?
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