Heavy head that wears the crown

Illustration: Rod Clement

You couldn’t blame gaming billionaire James Packer for holding his head in his hands at the thought of outflows from his empire in recent months.

He’s handed over more than $1.25 billion to his sister Gretel Packer to settle his late father Kerry Packer’s will and is still trying to negotiate a multi-million-dollar financial separation from his now former fiancee ­Mariah Carey.

At the very least, she’s keeping that ring.

Now we discover that Packer has had to do some heavy-duty financial spring cleaning towards getting the $60 million sale of half of his dad’s beloved pastoral station Ellerston in the Hunter Valley to Crown over the line in August last year.

James Packer

Accounts just in reveal that in the most recent financial year, Ellerston benefited from a massive reduction in debt from more than $350m to just over $1m, in part thanks to “sundry revenue” of $217m relating to the forgiveness of intercompany loans.

Very kind of the accountants.

That “revenue” meant total receipts were $226m in the year, compared with just $9m previously. That made for a $200m bottom line, compared with a $17.5m loss last year.

Along with Crown shareholders, the loan forgiveness is good news for Gretel, who turned 50 this year but whose party in Sydney her then still engaged brother missed.

She got half of his remaining stake in Ellerston as part of the estate settlement, with the related party sale to Crown valuing the siblings’ respective stakes in the virtually debt-free Ellerston at $30m each.

The deal gave Gretel a seat on the Ellerston board, alongside her mother Ros Packer and the executive chair of Crown and boss of Packer’s private CPH, Rob Rankin.

Curiously, the Ellerston accounts also show the purchase of $61m worth of shares in “associated entities” in the year. We asked Packer’s people which entities they were, but sadly they didn’t get back. Wonder if it’s Crown?

Meanwhile, reports out of Israel suggest that Packer has opened a file with the Holy Land’s tax authorities.

Interestingly, such a file is a prerequisite to residency in the country — an idea that the Sydney-born billionaire has toyed with for many years.

Party for Blundo

It was one of Melbourne’s better surprise parties.

A mighty cast of the city’s notables crowded into eccentric socialite Peter Janson’s six-storey bluestone CBD pile “Rutherglen House” yesterday to celebrate the day 40 years before when newspaper legend Peter Blunden started as a cadet in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp empire.

Many having popped a precautionary Claratyne pill to best the hordes of dead, stuffed animals that decorate Janson’s place, in teemed an expansive cast of Blunden and wife Anna’s friends and closest associates.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller and Herald & Weekly Times chairman Penny Fowler hosted the surprise celebration.

Fowler’s mother Janet Calvert-Jones (sister of Rupert Murdoch) was along with husband John Calvert-Jones, as was The Australian’s editor-in-chief Paul Whittaker, Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston, News’ South Australian, West Australian and Northern Territory editorial director Mel Mansell and columnist Andrew Bolt.

Also there was the managing director of News Corp’s metro and regional publishing business Damian Eales and corporate affairs boss Campbell Reid.

Representing Melbourne’s billionaires was Solly Lew, who brought his party-loving Premier Investments lieutenant Mark McInnes.

Also among the business guests were Crown Resorts boss Rowen Craigie and his party queen Ann Peacock, Village Roadshow honcho Graham Burke and Jayco caravan magnate Gerry Ryan.

Three of Victoria’s most distinguished politicians were along representing our three tiers of government: long-serving Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle, reforming premier Jeff Kennett and legendary federal treasurer Peter Costello (whose ECG Advisory directors Jonathan Epstein and David Gazard were on business in Canberra, trying to avoid being superglued to the federal parliament).

The sports community were covered by Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy, Swimming Australia president John Bertrand, AFL chief Gill McLachlan and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, while Molly Meldrum and Michael Gudinski represented the music world.

Now to planning Blundo’s 50th.

Irons in the fire

After getting a lifeline from Treasurer Scott Morrison earlier in the year, corporate watchdog Greg Medcraft’s extended term as ASIC chair doesn’t finish until the end of 2017.

But the former Societe Generale banker is already feathering his nest towards the next phase.

After being courted and short-listed to run Britain’s regulator the Financial Conduct Authority it seems Medcraft’s got the international bug.

Greg Medcraft.

ScoMo’s corporate watchdog is quietly tripping about the globe scooping up useful roles on the international stage so that once his term is finally up he’s not left twiddling his thumbs.

Medcraft was last week appointed to a four-year term as a director of the Salzberg Global Forum, a Washington-based international think tank.

He’s also just accepted an invitation from the International Monetary Fund to become a member of its Interdepartmental Working Group on Finance and Technology, joining economics Nobel laureate Robert C. Merton, among other luminaries.

That should allow some scope for plenty of travel to the US east coast to drop into his New York brownstone.

The latest roles are in addition to his work as an enthusiastic ambassador for Dr Shuquan Liu, the Sydney-based provider of ancient Chinese slimming tea.

Koo the key

As the clock ticks in the nation’s capital towards tomorrow’s end to the sitting year, some folk were running a slower pace yesterday far from the Canberra bubble.

Former senior political adviser to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Tony “Parko” Parkinson was spied deep in Revenue Minister Kelly O’Dwyer’s electorate of Higgins, in a dark corner of Kooyong cafe Koo for breakfast with his former Fairfax journo wife Kirsty Simpson.

Parko left the service of the PMO less than a fortnight ago, having spent 14 months in Turnbull’s inner sanctum after the Member for Wentworth knocked off Tony Abbott for the nation’s top office.

Before Parko was lured back to Canberra he’d been running government relations at supermarket giant Coles under Kevin Rudd’s former chief of staff Alister Jordan.

Jordan’s office at the retailer is just up the road from the coffee shop Koo that Parko and his wife were spied at yesterday.

Could it be a forerunner to a return to Richard Goyder’s Wesfarmers empire for Parko, who needs a new gig after Canberra? More likely he’d be chatting with Jordan for advice.

Koo is also just up the road from Simpson’s employer Vision Australia, where she manages corporate affairs. Handy spot.