Domain chairman Nick Falloon gets front-page billing

Nick Falloon has offloaded his Longueville, Sydney, home.

It is always good to see company directors getting to know the ins and outs of the companies they represent, not least Domain’s Nick Falloon, who in recent weeks has been given a hands-on example of the merits of his real estate group’s reach.

Falloon’s waterfront Longueville mansion, complete with its own Lane Cove River mooring and greenhouse-like architecture, was splashed across the front pages of Domain’s glossy magazine last month, showcased as the property of the week.

Inside, and across several pages, property reporter Kate Farrelly described the home as a waterfront beauty, detailing the lengths stonemasons had gone to complete the sandstone walls, all culminating in a price guide north of $15m.

Falloon, for what it is worth, was not revealed as the owner in the piece, nor was his association with the company disclosed, merely quoted anonymously as “the owner” while he talked of the variety of water sports on offer close by, adding: “We’ll miss the quiet and the closeness to the water.”

Nick Falloon. Picture: Brendan Esposito.

Good press or otherwise, the property was quickly snapped up, the chairman completing the sale earlier this month just days prior to auction, the sale price still yet to be disclosed.

Anything in the realm of the price guide however would be a boon for Falloon and wife Dianne, who bought the home back in 1999 for $3.2m.

Those close to the chairman noted to Margin Call any feature was just part and parcel of the company’s usual process, with property packages negotiated by agents and anonymity required to let the buyer envisage themselves in the home.

Here’s hoping Falloon got a good rate on the multi-page spread and social media features then.

With the sale now behind them, the Falloons can get on with settling into their Elizabeth Bay penthouse, though it is further from his favoured Terrey Hills Golf and Country Club.

The couple bought the expansive apartment for $15.5m several years ago as a means to downsize and have recently spruced it up with a substantial upgrade.

Right in the thick of the action around Potts Point though, its no wonder the media veteran was pining for the quiet.

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His fair share

While property pursuits bolster Falloon’s fortunes, his plentiful shareholdings in the $3.4bn company aren’t doing bad either.

The chairman, also deputy chairman at former parent company Nine, whose strong views on CEO succession planning reportedly caused heated debate with Peter Costello in the wake of Hugh Marks’ exit, is just weeks away from a slate of share options hitting paydirt.

You see, in the peak of the pandemic, well before what we now know as the property boom, Domain enacted a program dubbed “project zipline”, allowing staff, including the board, to sacrifice a portion of their cash salary for six months in return for an allocation of share rights.

For Falloon, that meant a tranche of 31,105 share rights issued at $2.01 a pop, close to the lowest-value shares traded in the early days of the pandemic.

In the latest annual report released last month, the rights are given a fair value around $50,000 but, by the time they vest in the first week of November, those same rights will convert a parcel of shares worth around $180,000.

When it rains it pours.

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House rules

As former AMP boss Francesco De Ferrari continues to fly under the radar, rumoured to be spending his days under the Milanese sun, at least there’s action at his former residence.

The ink was not yet dry on the contract earlier this year when speculation mounted that the axed chief executive had doubled his money on his Woollahra residence after just 12 months.

Margin Call can now reveal it was Georgina Varley of private equity outfit Adamantem that helped the worldly chief add yet more to his fortunes, forking out $13.3m to score the prized block in the leafy streets of Woollahra.

Adamantem’s Georgina Varley. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

Former AMP CEO Francesco De Ferrari. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian.

De Ferrari and wife Elisabetta bought the property for $7.5m in 2020, so the feat is nothing short of extraordinary – a pleasant parting gift, however, as the family seeks its fortunes away from Australia.

Varley and lawyer husband Gavin Smith settled on their new home just weeks ago, trading up from their nearby Jersey Road terrace sold to BGH Capital’s Terry Bowen for $6.25m.

Meanwhile, new AMP chief Alexis George is making her mark on the wealth management firm, recently embarking on a new national ad campaign, its first since 2019.

Dubbed “the investor in all of us”, the campaign highlights everyday Aussies in an attempt to “restore pride and trust” in the brand.

Returns like De Ferrari’s might help the cause too.

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Job description

Just what are the bounds of Crown’s head of Perth Lonnie Bossi’s actual role?

The long-serving employee, elevated to lead the Perth casino last December, it turns out, isn’t entirely certain.

Bossi was treated to his second appearance before Neville Owen’s Perth royal commission on Friday, quizzed on the structure of the Perth entity and his own reporting lines.

Crown’s Lonnie Bossi with Perth’s former Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi in 2016.

While the commission remains ongoing, there have indeed been plenty of changes in the wider Crown Resort group and it seems even the Perth executive is struggling to keep up.

The local head was asked whether he had received a formal job description in taking on his latest role, a document he told the commission he had asked of former chief Ken Barton but never of his newest boss Steve McCann.

Responsibilities had been outlined verbally, he said, adding he regularly spoke to McCann and was aware of his expectations.

It was a similar vein when questioning moved to the casino’s remediation plan.

Bossi told the commission it was a “living document” without any real deadlines, created and executed by he and his team, without any required approval from his superiors.

What followed then was forensic examination of several of the casino’s top patrons, including a so-called Patron K who had turned over $2.5m at Crown’s pokies in a six-month period in 2017 and whose vetting processes under Bossi’s remit as chief operating officer, it was revealed, included searches of the man’s social media profiles and word-of-mouth reassurance that his family was indeed wealthy.

Ultimately asked whether profits at the casino were prioritised above responsible gaming risk he had this to say:

“I would say profits were important to the business,” he started, carefully.

“ … We were in a position, particularly in the midterm, where the economy was not very strong.

“We looked to try and stabilise the business to save jobs. I also worked closely with the responsible gaming and the compliance teams to try and create a particular environment that we could fundamentally broaden the customer base to make it for a more stable and successful business.”

Take from that what you will.