James Packer  jettisons Matthew Csidei amid yacht cost blowouts

Illustration: Rod Clement.

It’s official: Matthew “Ched” Csidei no longer works for his Cranbrook school chum James Packer.

In recent months Csidei was removed from the payroll of the Crown billionaire Packer’s private company Consolidated Press Holdings, which this year has been put under the management of its cost-conscious CEO, Guy Jalland.

An on-the-money report in The Sydney Morning Herald two months ago noted a loud silence around Csidei’s whereabouts. It also noted cost blowouts and delays on the construction of Packer’s new superyacht, which Ched had been overseeing in Europe over the past three years.

Sources close to the construction of the Redman Whiteley Dixon-designed superyacht tell Margin Call that the cost of the vessel — still a work in progress — is much higher than previous reports.

We understand the secretive Italian build is now on course to cost the Crown billionaire €130 million ($200m). Even for a gaming mogul worth $5 billion, that’s a fair whack of cash.

The talk around Mediterranean boatsheds is that there was a mighty underestimation of the cost of the superyacht’s fitout. Readers can imagine how much that would have impressed the frugal Jalland.

Ched — who some know as “The Admiral” and others as “The Butler” — had been a long-serving, luxury-focused member of the Packer entourage.

Before the superyacht project, he oversaw construction of the enormous Vaucluse mansion Packer built with then wife Erica that was sold in 2015 for $70m to Australian-Chinese billionaire businessman Chau Chak Wing.

When it emerges, potentially as late as 2019, Packer’s new boat will replace the 87m luxury Arctic P, his late father Kerry Packer’s beloved icebreaker.

As reported in this column in March, Arctic P, which was built in 1970 and is believed to cost about $10m a year to run, is staying in the family.

James’s billionaire sister Gretel — who last week took ownership of another $100m-odd worth of Crown stock from her brother as part of the settlement of their father’s estate — has taken over ownership of the mega yacht.

Ellerston moves

Staying within the Packer orbit, Margin Call understands the Upper Hunter luxury rural retreat Ellerston will soon be formally transferred back to the Packer family.

The James Packer-backed listed gaming group Crown bought half of Ellerston two years ago for $60m.

The sprawling property — bought by Kerry Packer in 1972 and featuring a Greg Norman-designed golf course, luxury accommodation, go-kart track, cinema and several swimming pools — was to be made available for Crown’s
high-rollers when the gaming giant’s casino at Barangaroo in Sydney opens.

It’s understood Crown will still have access rights to the storied estate, but ownership will be returned entirely to the family. Under that arrangement, Gretel is expected to own a quarter of the property.

An announcement to shareholders on the change of ownership — first flagged in this column in March — could be made before Christmas.

Blowing bubbles

Has a straw man come to the rescue of embattled Brisbane hospitality entrepreneur Damian Griffiths?

It looks that way.

Griffiths, an immigration lawyer turned entrepreneur (who someone, somewhere apparently once dubbed the “godfather of bar culture”), has a diverse array of business interests that sit under the name DG Hospitality.

A voluminous array of separate vehicles sits underneath. The best known is Doughnut Time, a made-for-Instagram concept that has popped up around the nation (with a bit of PR help from Insta-Queen Roxy Jacenko).

Another Griffiths business known to Brisvegas residents is Les Bubbles, a Parisian steakhouse with the only-in-Queensland tagline, “No longer a brothel”.

That Fortitude Valley steak and chips shop — which occupies the space that was once a den of vice in the city’s seedier years — used to trade under a vehicle called Bubbles Bar & Bistro company.

In recent weeks, Chris Jordan’s ATO has sought an order in the Federal Court to wind up Bubbles Bar & Bistro over an alleged debt of $423,491.

The company, along with a host of other Griffiths vehicles including Doughnut Time, had its name changed to its ACN number.

As has been noted in the Courier Mail, that will probably make it harder for those owed money to recognise the company when they review credit-check sites.

And now we see — much as a mythical bird might from a mythical pile of ashes — a new company has emerged to hold the infamous venue.

It’s called Les Bubbles Restaurant Pty Limited, and has a single director and shareholder: a 45-year-old called Dan Strachotta, who we were unable to get in contact with yesterday but who, according to LinkedIn, appears to be a consultant at an outfit called “Strawman Group”.

Interesting name.

Slurpees flow

7-Eleven billionaire Russ Withers likes his privacy. The 71-year-old’s reticence is helped by a quirk of Australian law that allows his company — along with a host of other richie-controlled vehicles — not to publicly release its annual results.

7-Eleven Australian founder Russ Withers.

But thanks to the tax transparency data just released by Chris Jordan’s ATO, interested observers can get a sense of how business is going at the Withers family-owned 7 Holdings.

The ATO’s numbers shows 7 Holdings made $2.5 billion in 2015-16, with taxable income of $70m. That gave it a $19.2m tax bill. Despite recent reputational and staffing challenges, it seems the slurpees are still flowing at the billionaire’s convenience store empire.