Lindsay Fox marks 86th birthday with Scottish theme; David Jones’ bargain basement
They arrived to the wail of bagpipes, each guest donning articles of Highland dress as specified on the invitation: there were tartan pants and argyll jackets, kilts and kerchiefs, lurid purples, tasteful browns, at least one silver-mounted sporran, and a fellow who blagged his way in wearing lumberjack flannel.
Indeed, it is never a dull occasion when billionaire Lindsay Fox, the good-humoured trucking magnate, marks another year of orbiting the sun – Wednesday having recorded his 86th expedition on that journey.
But unlike the “conception party” he threw nine months ahead of his 80th birthday, or the fabled reverse wake he held over three-days while encroaching upon 70, this year’s bash was, by comparison, a staid affair. Is that a sign he’s slowing down? Doubtful.
Held at The Great Hall in the National Gallery of Victoria, a venue that benefited from a sizeable Fox donation last year, the men-only luncheon attracted the usual mix of upper-echelon characters drawn from politics, sport, business and the arts.
And as for the Scottish theme, was it that Fox had recently discovered a hitherto unknown branch of his genealogy through AncestryDNA? Margin Call assumed as much but the answer was far less interesting.
“There was a whisky-tasting element to the lunch,” said one attendee. “Hence the scotch, the bagpipes.” Ah, mystery solved.
A giggling St Kilda football club president Andrew Bassat, dressed in aforementioned kilt and sporran, arrived alongside actor Eric Bana who, in regulation suit and tie, and appearing rather stoic of face, looked more like his was playing Bassat’s protective detail. The only bit missing was the earpiece.
Lindsay himself turned up with son David wearing eye-popping tartan pants and looking as though he’d been brought to life from a David Rowe illustration. Certainly in high spirits once inside the NGV, Fox delivered a speech to attendees and received words of praise in kind, including a poem dedicated to him by Rupert McCall.
Artist David Bromley was on hand to paint a tribute piece, and his work will be cut out for him if the portrait includes anyone else in attendance. Anthony Albanese, flush with commitments, appeared at the event to wish Fox well, as did Victorian Premier Dan Andrews and his distant predecessor Jeff Kennett.
The Victorian Premier, who has long been affiliated with Fox, arrived not long after shrugging off questions about the adverse findings of a corruption inquiry that examined the conduct of his government.
Liberal leader Peter Dutton wasn’t wearing much of a smile as he walked into the venue. A consequence of some dismal polling results out today? The latest Resolve Strategic numbers, published by Nine Newspapers, recorded his personal approval ratings well into subzero temperatures.
Former golfer and Trump-shiller Greg Norman didn’t seem to catch the memo, sharking into the NGV wearing casual attire. That’s still a welcome change from his former habit of posing nude, or semi-nude, for the cameras.
Developers David Deague and Lloyd Williams, looking dressed for the Melbourne Club, fast-walked inside with nary a hint of tartan on their person, but when you’re that rich the rules don’t always apply. At least Eddie McGuire saw fit to cinch a Scottish family heirloom around his neck.
In a plaid suit jacket was Premier Investments’ chairman Solomon Lew, who shooed away the paps by saying: “I’m not that famous.” Anthony Howard, the husband of Victorian Governor Linda Dessau, participated in the festivities but we can only assume that he wasn’t dropped off with a police escort, an extravagance he enjoyed during the F1 grand prix earlier this month.
The AFL’s interminably-outgoing CEO Gill McLachlan made an entrance, fresh from a week-long gather-round with officials in Adelaide where, one imagines, some decisions could have been made about his replacement – but probably weren’t. No shortage of AFL heroes in attendance, either, including retired Geelong captain Joel Selwood and forward Tom Hawkins, along with Carlton president Luke Sayers and Kevin Sheedy.
The suggestion to Margin Call was that the event would likely cap itself off at a respectable hour, say the late afternoon. Judging by Fox’s staying power, that was always going to sound optimistic.
Bargain basement
Anchorage Capital Partners now owns David Jones, but how much did the Phil Cave-chaired private equity outfit actually fork out for the iconic department store retailer?
Margin Call can reveal that Anchorage nabbed DJs from South African retail giant Woolworths for the bargain basement price of $80m, settling on its purchase at the end of March.
In December, when the sale was first announced, parties to the deal mooted a $100m sale price, a fraction of the $2.1bn that Woolworths paid for the then-listed group in 2014, including its property assets.
The deal with Anchorage, however, did not include any property, meaning that Woolworths retains ownership of David Jones’ flagship Bourke Street building in Melbourne, said to be worth more than $250m and expected to be sold soon.
As to the terms, we understand Anchorage paid $39.7m in equity for DJs, with the $40m balance funded via debt. The buy followed the collapse of Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics – owned by Anchorage – which over recent weeks has been broken up and sold off by receivers.
But slim as DJs’ price might look, it doesn’t mean that management weren’t able to get in on the private equity deal.
CEO Scott Fyfe, who Anchorage has kept on to run the retailer, was issued with a stake in the company as part of a deal to keep him in place.
DJs wasn’t keen to talk about this, but we can see that in the weeks before the sale closed Fyfe created two new vehicles – Fyfe Melbourne Investments and S&L Fyfe Investments.
We can’t see exactly how much stock management owns – equity holders are using corporate trustee Perpetual Corporate Trust to keep it mum.
That’s the same outfit that Jayne Hrdlicka and Virgin’s private owner Bain Capital uses to make sure airline stock issued to management also remains secret.
Anchorage has ultimately purchased DJs via a newly created company, ACP Riley Street Group. Its directors are Anchorage managing partner Simon Woodhouse and partner Beau Dixon
The Cat’s luxury lair raided by corporate cop
The Byron Bay home of media entrepreneur Antony Catalano was paid a visit by ASIC on the hunt for a computer, as part of an alleged investigation of trading in asset manager Magellan.
The Price is right for Rinehart
Gina Rinehart praised the Coalition’s Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, urged the ADF to shift to Darwin and chastised unacclimatised city folk, in a recorded address to the Institute of Public Affairs.