Lack of prestige property buyers in Mosman

Cartoon: Rod Clement

Has the Mosman merchant bankers’ luxury property merry-go-round stopped? And no, not just because vendors sensibly don’t want anyone who might be carrying the coronavirus coming through their family homes, even with their hands in their deep pockets.

Private equity legend Chris Hadley and wife Sue on Thursday pulled their prestige listing from sale after offers lodged over the past four-week marketing campaign failed to impress.

There had been elevated hopes on listing last month after two Mosman sales, both at the top end of the market with tennis courts, that found bullish buyers.

But not so fortunate the Hadleys, who thought they’d get $10m through Ray White for their Hopetoun Avenue home on Sydney’s lower north shore.

Offers closed on Wednesday afternoon.

Hadley, executive chairman of private equity firm Quadrant, paid $3.25m in 2003, then commissioning a three-level residence with cellar and tasting room designed by architect Phil Corben.

So no downsizing decisions needed quite yet, with the couple also retaining their Palm Beach weekender, which cost $10.6m in 2013 when they bought from the then DocLocker director Paul Nankervis.

Down on the Burran Road harbourfront clifftop, former Vocation executive Brett Whitford has pulled his trophy home. It was listed just two weeks ago with $23m expectations through Avnu’s Michael Coombs, but virus contagion concerns triggered its quiet withdrawal.

Whitford, who could always seek refuge at his 57ha cattle farm at Jamberoo on the NSW south coast, purchased the clifftop property in 2014. It was bought for $16m from recruitment industry boss veteran Geoff Morgan and wife Roslyn.

Mosman agents normally can count on $1bn in annual sales, but not this year. “FaceTime might work selling a heavily discounted investment flat at Waterloo, but not in Sydney’s premium harbourfront suburb,” one agent said.

Closer to the city on Kurraba Point, former Woolworths executive Sally Macdonald and Wayne Markman, a one-time Credit Suisse banker, pulled the marketing of Waione, their 1900 waterfront reserve property, bought in 2011 when Macdonald was Oroton Group’s chief executive, for $2.15m. The eight-bedroom home, currently configured as four investment apartments, had been listed with $6m hopes, but will now return to the rental market. The couple live in nearby Cremorne Point.

Across the nation Macquarie Group analysts estimate new property listings will decline by up to 60 per cent over the next few months given the restrictions on open for inspections and onsite auctions.

Left on the rack

No saviour emerged for the Colette by Colette Haymanfashion accessories brand, before the decision to close the stores on Thursday. Margin Call gleans the keenest of the restrained buying interest came from former rag trading operative turned property developer and Angus cattle farmer Theo Onisforou.

He wasn’t set to run the business, but rather was prepared to back dynamo Roxy Jacenko, who was briefly toying with making an offer. A phone call between the two discussing the prospect was overheard by a Margin Call operative.

Onisforou was the longtime business partner with the late Mark Keighery, founder of Marcs, when they had quite a few labels, including Diesel.

Documentation from Deloitte administrators Vaughn Strawbridge, Sam Marsden and Jason Tracy put $6.7m as owed to creditors, with a further $2.5m sought by employees.

The name behind the brand, Collette Hayman, ceased being a director late last year. Her husband Mark, the Manly-based chief executive of the company, remained a director of the company that was grossing about $140m in sales.

Deliveroo on hop

As we turn to takeaway, fast food delivery giant Deliveroo says it has seen a 435 per cent jump in the past fortnight in restaurants signing up to the platform compared to the previous two weeks. They’ve had 1700 new restaurants join in the past month across Australia.

Their 8000 riders are often the only traffic on the arterial roads after the coronavirus closures of all nightlife.

Ed McManus, CEO of Deliveroo Australia, says the company was there to support restaurants to digitise their businesses and “adapt quickly to this new world”.

McManus, however, has just lost his head of corporate affairs, Joanne Woo, who is taking up the head of communications role at automation company ABB. She spent a year in the job, after previously being at GE for eight years.

Her replacement, Joe Satari, will have to quickly deal with the highly effective campaign by 2GB broadcaster Ben Fordham, who is urging all the food delivery services to cut their hefty commissions.

They charge up to 35 per cent commission on every food order, which makes it very, very hard for the restaurants’ switch to takeaway to become viable.

“The business model of the food delivery giants relies solely on the hard work of our restaurants and cafes,” Fordham reckons. There’s about 45,000 signatories on his Change.org petition.

Ring of confidence

Elizabeth Ring, the cashed-up former wife of Swisse Vitamins family billionaire Stephen Ring, has emerged as the record $14m buyer of an apartment on Noosa’s beachfront.

It was the three-bedroom Hastings Street penthouse in the Noosa Court block of only six apartments that spans 240sq m.

At $14m, it is just $4m cheaper than the dearest Sunshine Coast house sale, which was when a 3595sq m Webb Road beachfront sold for $18m to Singapore-based Equis Energy chief executive David Russell.

The Camberwell-based Ring’s acquisition had initially sold for $2.35m off the plan in 1997, and then $5.5m in 2003 when bought by billionaire Chris Morris, the Melbourne-based Computershare co-founder turned hotelier.

It’s the second big-ticket sale in the block after another apartment sold for $9m in November last year.

The block has long held the strip’s record, as there was an $8.2m sale in 2006.

Eric Seetoo and Nick Hunter at Tom Offermann made the recent sale.

Of course, the Richmond-based Stephen Ringspent $8.25m at Byron Bay 18 months ago. It was the Marine Parade holding bought from art collector and one-time Skilled Engineering group boss Greg Hargrave.

Bouris’s new wheels

Expect to see serial entrepreneur Mark Bouris cruising the streets of Sydney in a top-of-the-range Lexus. The Yellow Brick Road chairman has just signed on as a brand ambassador for the new Lexus ES F Sport.

“It’s one of life’s great rewards to collaborate with global brands who drive innovation — especially in areas of safety, comfort, style and performance,” Bouris said.

The ex-Celebrity Apprentice boss is mostly seen in his big black American pick-up truck.

Lexus will be hoping Bouris drives carefully in their wheels, as it was Margin Call who revealed in 2016 that he got into a bingle in his BMW with another car that was parallel parking in front of him.

Clearly in a hurry, while overtaking the reversing car in Sydney’s Paddington, Bouris accidentally sideswiped the vehicle. He then jumped out of his Beema in his gym gear to inspect the damage. Margin Call was told by onlookers at the Apache Salute espresso bar he was far from relaxed.

The acclaimed mortgage broker keeps busy these days instilling what he’s learnt on his journey to help others make the best of theirs through his Mentored website program. He has interviewed the likes of Guy Saxelby, Steven Marks, Ryan Channing, Roxy Jacenko and Elle Ferguson on his video segments.

To mark the launch of the partnership, Lexus and Bouris have developed an annual grant for up-and-coming entrepreneurs who exhibit the same drive and tenacity shared by Lexus and Bouris.