Brokers’ dust-up turns nasty; ‘Bright Future’ indeed for Matt Comyn
Some truly bizarre behaviour has surfaced from the legal skirmish between broking firm Fortrend Securities and two of its former staff who defected to Shaw and Partners, where co-CEO Earl Evans has been unable to stop himself wading into the saga.
Stephen Lyle and Christopher Wollermann once counted themselves as longstanding employees at Fortrend, having been schooled by its colourful managing director Joe Forster.
They left for Shaw in December. Soon after they were accused by Forster of poaching valuable clients, and the allegation is now with Federal Court justice Stewart Anderson, who is presumably picking through the spicier aspects of their lengthy affidavits.
There’s much to savour in the documents, including a comical aside about the launch of Forster’s blockchain business in 2014 that led to months-long stays in the US. While there he allegedly became distracted from Fortrend’s operations and spent “a considerable amount of time … writing a movie screenplay” that he shopped around in Hollywood.
His eventual return to Melbourne in 2017 led to a stint where he allegedly lived in the office “for a couple of months” before moving into a Toorak rental.
But it’s when Lyle and Wollermann informed him of their resignation in 2022 that the atmosphere between them allegedly turned sinister. Forster is accused of accessing their computers, sending fraudulent emails to clients, and impersonating Wollermann in a call with a former client using his confiscated phone.
So allegedly distraught was Forster that he told them both “this will be war” and claimed “the last battle I fought I lost a finger”, a statement that, as Lyle’s affidavit makes clear, was probably metaphorical, because Forster is not missing any fingers.
Disturbingly, Forster allegedly tried to pacify Lyle at one point by advising him to “get a massage at a parlour (you) know where the ugly Chinese women will give ‘happy endings’ for an extra $20 or $30 … it doesn’t matter that they’re ugly because you’re not looking at them.”
How does Shaw’s co-CEO fit into all this? He privately confronted Forster on LinkedIn not long ago in response to some of his antics; this allegedly included contacting a large number of staff at Shaw, prompting a company-wide email warning them of his behaviour.
“Joe you are embarrassing yourself,” Evans wrote. “All your crying and begging people to stay and your carry on doesn’t show a bloke of sound mind. Like I said before, your threats, bullying, attempts to intimate (sic) is all small time and show a guy with a low IQ.”
He signed off the message, saying: “I have to get back to managing our clients 35billion (sic) Joe, please don’t bother me again.”
Pulling no punches
Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest spent Wednesday eagerly thrusting himself back into the headlines, this time with a misguided claim that he’s being picked on by the billionaire Stokes family using their ownership of The West Australian newspaper.
In an all-staff video message unearthed this week, Forrest bemoaned an alleged fatwa taken out against his Fortescue Metals by the publisher; he says he’s under attack over a decision to snub the Stokes family and purchase big haul trucks from a competitor.
Twiggy’s proof of this media assault? Apparently it’s the masthead’s critical headlines and commentary over Fortescue’s staff exits, redundancies and a sensitive sexual harassment investigation led by WorkSafe WA, for which FMG had until recently failed to hand over documents. Never mind that there is no world in which these matters wouldn’t generate prominent news copy. It’s why they were rightfully reported by other national dailies, including The Australian and The Financial Review, along with numerous other media outlets.
Never mind also that Fortescue’s decision not to buy trucks from leading equipment provider WesTrac, majority-owned by the Stokes family, dates back more than 12 months, as Ryan Stokes coolly told The Australian on Wednesday. It’s a decision older than some lockdown pets.
What’s perplexing is that if the blood is so bad between Forrest and Stokes over this truck fiasco then why has the mining billionaire invited the Seven Group managing director to join him at the annual Boao Forum in China next month?
That’s how deep the animosity runs, apparently – he’s extended an invitation to Stokes to join his delegation at Asian Davos. We note that Christine Holgate and Treasury Wines CEO Tim Ford will also be attending with the Twig’s delegation. Suppose we should all wait and see if he picks a fight with them, too.
Count me in
ANZ boss Shayne Elliott will be a notable attendee at Thursday night’s annual Valentine’s gala for Save a Child’s Heart, a charitable event to be hosted by billionaire investor and philanthropist Alex Waislitz.
Elliott is expected to be one of 320 names plucked from Waislitz’s contact book for an invitation, with guests paying up to $18,000 for a table at Aviary, located on the rooftop of Melbourne’s Crown Towers.
Waislitz is expected to be accompanied by his fiance Rebekah Behbahani – they have a daughter and he has three children from a previous marriage to Heloise Pratt, daughter of the late cardboard box king Richard Pratt.
Elliott enters the Waislitz universe following the bank’s $50m investment in View Media Group, a real estate digital media play owned by Waislitz and his partner Anthony Catalano. It’s also backed by Seven West Media.
The Waislitz Foundation has been a long-term backer of SACH, an Israeli non-profit devoted to cardiac care for children in developing countries, according to its website. And Waislitz himself assisted the group with raising more than $1m last year by tapping investment companies for support.
Also expected to be in attendance at the ball are Waislitz’s e mate Silviu Itescu, boss of the Waislitz-backed Mesoblast, as well as Bell Potter’s Hugh Robertson and pub owner John Adgemis. From what we hear Evans, of Shaw and Partners, and lawyer Jillian Segal will also be there.
You can bank on it
The cover of the Commonwealth Bank’s 2022 annual report to shareholders is emblazoned with the slogan “A Brighter Future for All”.
For sure the future is glaringly bright for CBA’s Matt Comyn as he approaches the fifth anniversary of his time in the top office of Australia’s biggest bank.
On Monday, as Comyn unveiled his bank’s record interim profit of $5.15bn and rewarded shareholders with a 20 per cent increase in the CBA’s interim dividend to $2.10-a-share, the boss would have been smiling at the thought of his own bright future.
CBA’s bumper result was built on the back of rising interest rates and bank deposits, with CBA Australia’s biggest mortgage lender.
As some homeowners stand on the edge of a mortgage cliff, Comyn, who was paid just shy of $7m last year, can soon expect a dividend payment of more than $172,000 to drop thanks to the 82,087 ordinary shares he owns.
Comyn also has tens of thousands of yet-to-vest deferred shares and performance rights to his name that will eventually yield dividend income too.
His fully-paid ordinary shares are worth just shy of $9m based on the price of CBA shares this morning of $109.25.
Comyn is optimistic of a “soft landing” for the Australian economy, not even a bump, we reckon, will be felt by the well-cushioned Comyn.
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