Crane tells the story in Whale tale

Illustration by Rod Clement

Australia’s second richest money manager, Chris Mackay, keeps a low profile for someone with a fortune last valued at $604 million.

But however discreet you might be in your deals, nothing draws attention like a big, yellow, permanent crane — like the one currently perched on the former UBS Australasia chairman’s holiday patch in Whale Beach, which sits just around the corner from Palm Beach, an easy drive north of Sydney.

Australia’s second richest money manager, Chris Mackay.

Honestly, the thing on Mackay’s seaview property wouldn’t look out of place at Barangaroo on the western edge of the Sydney CBD — where Crown billionaire James Packer is building a casino, despite the interminable planning hurdles.

The two have history. Packer was a key backer of Mackay and our third richest money manager, Hamish Douglass (last valued at $505m), when the pair set up global equities shop Magellan Financial Group in late 2006.

Mackay — who, exhibiting a predilection for billionaires, is also a director on Kerry Stokes’ Seven Group Holdings board — and his wife Tara bought the Whale Beach property back in June 2014 for $5.1m.

The 1970s-era brick house that used to occupy the spot has since been demolished, freeing up the huge 1200sq m beachfront site for Mackay, the portfolio manager of Magellan Flagship Fund, to do like Grand Designs.

Pittwater Council approved their Heather Buttrose Architects-designed plan last August.

According to the development application, the work will cost just under $3m.

That sounds awfully conservative for a project by Alvaro Bro Builders, which is not a firm known for thrift.

The elegant three-level construction, with pool and expansive garage, is more than a summer away.

Also in Whale Beach — and able to enjoy the yellow crane views — are Mad Max director George Miller, former WorleyParsons boss John Grill, Flight Centre co-founder Bill James, ANZ boss Shayne Elliott’s most low-profile executive hire for 2016, Maile Carnegie, and ­Macquarie bossNicholas Moore.

The bigger they are ...

Cranes can be more than an eyesore for the super rich.

Harry Triguboff, Australia’s richest man, had a horrible crane experience over the weekend.

Harry Triguboff — Australia’s richest man, with a fortune valued at $10.6 billion — had a horrible crane experience over the weekend, as one collapsed on top of one at his Meriton apartment towers in North Sydney.

The collapsed crane in Sydney.

Triguboff is a man with a reputation for design and construction excellence.

But his constructors — Titan Cranes — sure haven’t covered themselves in glory with the Sunday slip. Two workers injured in the collapse were still in hospital yesterday afternoon, thankfully in stable condition.

The 83-year-old Triguboff inspected the site on Sunday in a chocolate brown ensemble.

Quite what it will mean for the expansion of the privately owned and operated Titan remains to be seen. The business has surfed the housing market wave since 2001.

Meriton is one of its biggest customers — perhaps something to keep in mind if you find yourself in the vicinity of its many building sites around the country.

Legal eagles

The longer any high-powered legal stoush goes on, the more it becomes inevitable that Melbourne super-lawyer Leon Zwier will become involved.

Melbourne super-lawyer Leon Zwier.

Over the past few months Zwier, a partner at Melbourne’s boutique law shop Arnold Bloch Leibler, has popped up in proceedings surrounding bankrupt miner “Diamond” Joe Gutnick, bankrupt doctor Geoffrey Edelsten and former Fiat Chrysler boss Clyde Campbell, who was accused of various rip-offs by the car company.

So it’s perhaps little wonder to see him taking a walk-on role in the bruising battle between Brad Banducci’s Woolworths and good ole boys Lowe’s over failed hardware JV Masters.

Documents released by the Federal Court yesterday show Zwier advising frequent client Mark Korda, the insolvency professional and Collingwood Football Club director who was in turn helping out Woolies.

As the stoush reached its climax last month, Woolies chief legal officer Richard Dammery made sure to bring others involved in the deal including Korda, Banducci, Woolworths’ chairman Gordon Cairns and Citi boss Aidan Allen up to speed on the plan, which included Zwier finalising some legal advice.

“Keep this open, it’s not a genius competition but giving the WOW (Woolworths) board the best possible advice,” Dammery said. “Think about public company board and reputation issues.”

He also advised to “BLACK HAT what will Lowe’s do”, which we understand meant dreaming up the worst possible scenario.

Like ending up in court, for example.

Oswals exit

Tragically, ANZ’s former chief risk officer Chris Page never appeared in person in the Victorian Supreme Court in the Oswals blockbuster case against his former employer.

Radhika and Pankaj Oswal on a first class flight to Dubai.

But Page — who allegedly put Pankaj Oswal into a headlock in a robust attempt to have some ANZ mortgage papers signed — still found ways to make headlines.

One was when he said Pankaj would have only “a bus fare home” left after Flagstaff’s Tony Burgess negotiated the fire sale of the Indian businessman’s seized Burrup Fertiliser.

That jab seems to have inspired a selfie supplied by Pankaj and his wife Radhika on their way out of Australia after last week’s more than $200m settlement with ANZ.

It shows the glamorous pair nestled in a first class flight to Dubai — not a Greyhound bus in sight.

Their departure is bittersweet for the local legal community.

We’ve heard the couple spent towards $80m on their expansive Australian legal battles over the last five years.

And the benefaction is not done yet.

We understand they have commissioned consultants to determine the most profitable way to dispose of their property interests in Perth.

The work will inform whether they sell the empty plot or develop and then offload the Peppermint Grove site that houses the graffitied shell of Taj on Swan, their abandoned mansion, which is scheduled to be demolished next week.

Politis’s Midas touch

Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis doesn’t have much to worry about as this Sunday’s NRL grand final approaches. His team finished the season second last.

Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis.

Presently, Politis is with family and friends in Greece — just the spot to renew the Midas touch, which in the property field and car dealership world has made him an almost billionaire, with a fortune last valued at $879m.

Most recently, Politis has quietly offloaded a Parramatta site that can accommodate a huge apartment tower — another one to be served by NSW Premier Mike Baird’s mighty infrastructure rollout.

The sale of Politis’s Thompson Ford site and an attached property to residential developer Dyldam was struck a couple of months ago for between $60m and $70m.

The deal might almost have given Dyldam a reason to stay in place as major sponsor of the troubled Parramatta Eels — despite their apparent trouble meeting their commitments this season.

Lucky for Nick, who’d be loath to help a rival, after a well-canvassed feud Dyldam is on the way out as a sponsor of the western Sydney club.