Sydney’s so-called new money man Clayton Larcombe, the founder and chief investment officer of PAC Capital, is refusing to take recent criticism of his funds management outfit lying down.
The 37-year- old has penned a three-page letter to his investors (whom he also refers to as his “friends”), swinging back at what he sees as “inaccurate and untrue” personal and professional attacks in the financial press over recent weeks.
“This is a relentless witch hunt by certain individuals to seek to destroy my industry standing and my business by creating an inaccurate and untrue narrative about me,” Larcombe writes.
The fundie says he “just wants privacy” and that recent attention has been a “stressful time for my family and PAC Capital people”.
Larcombe, who has been happy to exploit the minute detail of his meteoric rise from country kid to apparent investment whiz overseeing what is claimed to be around $450m in funds under management, then goes on via 10 bullet points of detailed information to “set the record straight”.
Larcombe says the sudden changes to his online presence are variously thanks to a “tidy up” and a “technical glitch”.
He defends the status of his degree from Sydney University and declares that “any inference that I have made up my work history is laughable”.
“I have been advised to leave social media for the time being and limit website content,” he reveals.
The fundie says he has not sold his stake in Picklebet, of which he is a director, defends valuations of unlisted investments in PAC funds and the firm’s purchase of Clearwater.
As for alleged dodgy deeds when he worked at Koda Capital: “I don’t know what this is referring to. I have also not heard from ASIC regarding this unknown matter,” Larcombe says.
The money man says he stands by disclosures that funds under management at PAC are “in the order of $400m-$450m” and that all funds are audited and held via trustees.
As for the recent articles, Larcombe declares “we have engaged a defamation team and are building our case”.
He is believed to be using the services of Gilbert + Tobin.
“I am proud of PAC Capital and everything we stand for,” the businessman goes on.
“The latest attacks are unfair and untruthful and are now resulting in unfair and unethical damage to people’s careers, families and lives.”
Pass the popcorn, next episode please.
Stuck in reverse
Former Aussie Post boss Christine Holgate doesn’t mind sticking it to her old shop and now competitor every once in a while.
But it’s hard to take the moral high ground when her own private equity-owned outfit, Team Global Express (the transport and warehousing company formerly known as IPEC), remains loss-making with negative net liabilities.
Such is the case at TGE, which this week lodged its KPMG-audited financial report for the year to the end of March, revealing a bottom line in the red to the tune of $150,000 despite a 17 per cent jump in revenue to $2.82bn.
Holgate and her board, which is dominated by suits from private equity group Allegro including boss Adrian Loader, say they are confident the show can continue despite net liabilities of $36.6m.
The directors say they believe TGE, whose ultimate parent is the Allegro-owned Australian Parcel Group, can continue as a going concern given that the company has positive operating cash flow of more than $100m and untapped debt of $158m.
Loader has his hands full, with Allegro agreeing to buy the government consulting arm of troubled PwC Australia for $1. It will be called Scyne Advisory, and details of how the spin-off will run are slowly emerging.
At TGE, Holgate says increased levels of customer service has boosted volumes in the year, while price increases for services helped to offset inflation.
Underlying earnings in the company’s second half were reported to be particularly strong.
All they need to do now is get the bottom line out of the red and flog it.
Say yes to donations
Ahead of the Garma festival this weekend in Arnhem Land, the YES23 campaign is emailing people seeking donations.
The campaign in favour of the voice is being rolled out by Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, overseen by corporate heavy hitters including Wesfarmers chair Michael Chaney, former chief of staff to John Howard and now Aussie Post director Tony Nutt, and co-founder and chair of leading law firm Gilbert + Tobin Danny Gilbert.
Campaign director Dean Parkin is asking for money to fund the completion of films the group has been making with local Indigenous communities.
“The biggest issue with the national conversation right now is a key perspective is missing – the voices of the people the referendum will affect the most,” he writes.
“It’s a lot of people talking about us, without us.”
There was plenty of talking, for sure, on the topic yesterday in Question Time.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney was clearly frustrated by the constant and close attention she’s getting from the opposition on the referendum.
She issued deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley with a bizarre invitation to join Burney at Garma – which Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said he will not attend.
“I now issue an invitation to you, deputy leader (of the opposition), to come to Garma this weekend. Not only am I inviting the deputy leader to come to Garma, I’ll even make sure there’s some bug spray available for you,” Burney snipped.
Is that what’s meant by elevating the debate?
More Coverage
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Freehills partner given notice over synagogue tweet
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