Lex Greensill: Country solace for the squire in Cheshire
What better place for Bundy-born billionaire Lex Greensill to gather his thoughts on the spectacular implosion of his empire than the rolling green hills of Saughall, a quaint country village just a short chopper ride from London.
As the prospect of insolvency looms large, no doubt Lex will be bunkered down in the finance group’s Southampton Street HQ, but thoughts of his family home can’t be far away.
He and wife Vicky have become quite the figures in town after refurbishing the old Vicarage in town back in 2014.
Always a visionary, his now home was quite the fixer upper.
Early planning images show a weed-covered old cottage, said to have dated back to the late 19th century, formerly the home of the local Chester diocese vicars who celebrated composer Sir Edward Elgar (whose face was until 2007 on the £20 note) is said to have visited frequently.
A blue plaque noting Elgar’s regular presence at the home is said to be one of the key reasons behind the site’s heritage status.
Now restored, the family home is every bit the family home as the financier and his doctor wife had laid out in their £1.8m ($3.2m) renovation — all eight bedrooms and three storeys of it.
The home showcases the original architecture with two-storey glass panels, but the interiors suggest every bit of luxury with a games room, home cinema, stone spiral staircase and an underground wine cellar that runs along the entire width of the dwelling.
There’s even a separate summer house and several glass houses for Greensill to get back to his farming roots — all of which was completed before he was anointed by HRH Prince Charles as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the British economy in 2018.
Whether they’ve been any royal guests — of the Windsor type or the more likely financial royalty — is yet unknown.
With such a sprawling property, it is any wonder the couple and two young children opted to bunker down in the country during Boris Johnston’s months-long COVID-19 lockdown.
All that extra time and country air also saw the financier lodge plans for what he described as a “natural sanctuary” in one of the local council-owned parks.
According to reports of local online outfit Cheshire Live, Greensill lodged plans to create the wildlife haven to address growing threats of wildlife decline and climate change, telling a council meeting that: “I had the privilege of growing up in a rural location. My brothers and I enjoyed the freedom to explore and learn about the natural world around us, something that we took for granted in our youth”.
The lowly Bundy boy still down to earth despite the tails and top hats, how pure.
Bishop’s hat
And while we’re still on the top of impending financial collapse, we would be remiss not to mention former foreign minister Julie Bishop.
While her appointment as a senior adviser at Greensill back in December 2019 may have sounded like a good idea, it has caused quite the headache for the lawyer-turned-politician-turned-consultant this week, and the timing couldn’t be more inconvenient given her numerous speaking gigs on the other side of the country.
After jetting into Sydney for an event on Thursday, she told a crowd of chartered financial analysts on Friday it was the first time she’d laid a foot on east coast soil in 13 months, making her escape from Mark McGowan’s “People’s Republic of Western Australia”.
Bishop touched on megatrends shaping global relations, her “sliding door moments”, the future of the China-Australia relationship and her first impressions meeting Alexander Downer as a 21-year-old (spoiler alert: not pleasant).
And while the name dropping was rife, there was no mention of Lex Greensill though she did note a recent conversation with former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who coincidentally also holds the position of senior adviser with the financing firm.
What could they possibly have spoken about?
The 64-year-old, who sported a French braid in the new longer locks that have social media in a flurry, was quick to talk up her most recent projects, detailing her appointment as Kissinger Fellow to carry out research on leadership in the Pacific for the McCain Institute, as funded by the Rothschild family.
As a consequence, she now has regular zoom chats with the 97-year-old Henry Kissinger himself, who she described as “so sharp and insightful”.
And any conversation on women, in parliament or otherwise, would not be complete without reference to the unfolding events in Canberra, for which Bishop noted that “Parliament House should be the model workplace, that’s where the gold standard of workplace behaviour should be set and yet it’s not”.
Too true Julie, too true.
Body corporate
The usual corporate virtue signalling of Mardi Gras will be a little different this year, and we don’t just mean for the change of venue.
The usual Oxford Street parade ruled out by COVID-19, organisers took a different tact, transforming the Sydney Cricket Ground “into a stunning and sparkling showcase of LGBTQI+ culture and community”.
And while the tradition of the parade will continue, there will be a few notable corporate absences, including long-time supporter Qantas whose chief Alan Joyce had the honour of walking aside Cher back in 2018.
Just as Qantas bid farewell to its Rugby Australia sponsorship at the end of 2020, Margin Call hears it has also hung up its fishnets for the latest event, with any potential partnerships to be re-evaluated come 2022.
In a similar vein Geoff Culbert’s Sydney Airport has dropped out as a major partner, as has Myer — no surprises there given their latest results.
But with any loss there is room for renewal, with law firm Minter Ellison stepping up its commitment to be a major partner, while mattress maker Koala and social media group Tik Tok also joined the fold. Of course
Fellow corporates AAMI, NAB and Telstra have taken another way in, joining with official broadcast partner SBS which is set to deliver the full event live for its eighth year.
No word on how long-time principal sponsor ANZ feels about that.
Toffs’ night out
Invites might have been harder to come by for this year’s Melbourne Foundation dinner, but that was no bother for the top end of town, which came out in droves to support the Uni of Melbourne fundraiser.
Of course, the $10,000 a table price tag usually filters the guest list accordingly.
With capacity restrictions thanks to Chairman Dan, it was a more intimate dinner held at the newly renovated Old Quad building in the heart of the Parkville Campus.
That meant there was no place to hide as the likes of Flagstaff Partners’ Charles Goode and Tony Burgess or veteran director Don Argus worked the room, along with banker Peter Yates and recently retired Tabcorp chair Paula Dwyer.
Former Victorian premier John Brumby also got among the festivities as did Rupert and Annabel Myer.
NAB’s Ross McEwan may have been the keynote but it was one of the faculty’s scholarship students that stole the show with her tale of growing up on the streets of Bali.
Her performance well outdid the “unrehearsed” interview of Peter Doherty Institute director Sharon Lewin and Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp.
Not much of a surprise there.
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