Ho, Ho, Ho as James Packer packs it in

Cartoon: Rod Clement.

It’s sure to put a spring in any melancholic billionaire’s step.

Troubled gaming mogul James Packer will today see $880 million drop into his bank account courtesy of his “brother” Lawrence Ho, with the Hong Kong-based Canadian businessman set to complete the first stage of his deal to buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Crown Resorts.

Ho is sweeping in to provide his now Los Angeles-based friend Packer with a partial exit strategy from his 46 per cent Crown stake after a failed $10 billion deal with Las Vegas casino empire Wynn Resorts.

Lawrence Ho and James Packer

That deal collapsed following public disclosure of the secret talks.

But now Margin Call has learned that Ho and the Matthew Maddox-led Wynn weren’t the only potential suitors sniffing around the John Alexander-led casino owner and operator in recent months.

Executives of the $46 billion Galaxy Entertainment Group are understood to have visited Crown’s Melbourne facilities earlier this year after apparently expressing interest in buying a quarter of Packer’s 46 per cent stake in Crown.

An approach to Packer’s private Consolidated Press Holdings rather than the listed Crown would have meant discussions could have remained confidential, in contrast to Wynn who made a direct approach to Crown through its advisers ­Moelis.

While Galaxy’s major assets are in Macau, it has a stated desire to explore international development opportunities.

There is talk that Galaxy went cool on the move amid concerns it may have difficulty passing probity in Victoria, a process that Ho must also now go through to gain any representation on the Crown board.

Taxing times

Racking up the frequent flyer points during his boss James Packer’s flurry of deal-making is loyal lieutenant Guy Jalland.

The ConsPress chief and Crown director was in Sydney last week alongside CPH finance director Michael Johnston to put the finishing touches to the CPH deal with Lawrence Ho’s Melco.

Ho’s rep on the $1.76bn deal was Melco president and former Moelis exec Evan Winkler.

By last Friday night Jalland, who now lives in London, had jetted out to Europe. But he won’t be away for long.

Crown’s battle with Chris Jordan’s Australian Taxation Office over the $8.3bn group’s abandoned Cannery purchase is back in the Federal Court next week, with Jalland expected to be back in the country for this.

In a Federal Court action lodged in December, Crown sought to have set aside three tax assessments in which the group was denied a deduction for interest payments on the Cannery deal between 2013 and 2106.

The ATO slapped Crown with the $34m in new bills in August last year, adding to $362m imposed on the company in 2016 over the exotic financing structure behind the deal.

Watchdog worries

Be afraid Wayne Byres.

Former competition tsar Graeme Samuel is coming for you.

And it should be only three or so weeks before he gets to your front door.

Margin Call understands that the Samuel-led capability review of Byres’ Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, first commissioned by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in February, is set to be delivered on time and in full by the end of this month.

Samuel and his fellow panellists Wesfarmers director Diane Smith-Gander and former New Zealand central banker Grant Spencer have completed the investigative work of their review and are now finalising their detailed report to the Member for Kooyong.

The review of APRA was one of the recommendations of Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission into banking, after he found that APRA and its fellow regulator, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, were ineffective and favoured enforceable agreements with miscreant financial institutions rather than prosecuting them for breaking the law.

Bring on Samuel’s report. We can’t wait.

Samuel’s shack

If only the sale of Graeme Samuel’s redundant Toorak mansion was moving along as well as his almost finished APRA report.

The market-savvy former regulator listed his Scotsburn Grove three-bedder with a pool back in April, with an expression of interest campaign closing early last week.

Samuel, who with his partner Gillian Davies now lives in bayside Brighton in a home they paid $6.15m for, bought the Toorak pile in 2015 for $3.25m.

Ambitiously, the businessman had been hoping for a deal somewhere in the $8m to $8.4m range, but so far no deal has been done.

Word is there is some discussion taking place with, among others, a potential buyer from offshore, but that offers are well below Samuel’s range.

Samuel will be hoping Phil Lowe’s cut will help things along.

Gospel of Gorman

The big gun’s in town.

Day two of Morgan Stanley’s summit saw no less than the investment bank’s Aussie-born head honcho James Gorman hit the stage at the Four Seasons in Sydney for the New York-based financier’s take on geopolitics and financial markets.

James Gorman, chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley. Picture: Bloomberg

But the thoughts of the Melbourne-born Gorman, who went to school at Xavier College like failed opposition leader Bill Shorten, were not for the great unwashed.

The influential banker’s pearls of wisdom were reserved for a closed-door session of what is the bank’s inaugural Australian talkfest.

Still, Margin Call managed to nab one of the privileged few for a download on the exclusive gospel according to Gorman, who will be pleased with his beloved Collingwood’s performance so far this season in the Gill McLachlan-led AFL.

Despite being a loyal donor to the Democrats historically, Gorman, who was paid more than $41m by the bank last year, predicted US President Donald Trump would be returned to the White House in the 2020 election, much like Scott Morrison prevailed in Australia last month.

The public, 61-year-old Gorman concluded, vote with their hip pocket and the US economy is travelling solidly.

As for the heightening trade war between the US and China, Gorman is confident that the powerful nations will — despite the posturing — come to a resolution on their trade spat.

But Gorman, who has two grown up children, is less positive on Brexit, unable to see how the impasse can be sorted out.