Mariah Carey’s world of pain over split from James Packer

Illustration: Rod Clement.

As his American pop star ex-­fiancee Mariah Carey gears up for the debut of her new reality “docu-series” Mariah’s World, gaming billionaire James Packer looks to be getting on with life and business far away from the spotlight.

Carey broke her silence on the couple’s break-up on US television overnight, declaring to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that the split was “difficult to talk about”.

But rather than emotion, maybe that has more to do with unfolding legal negotiations towards a financial settlement between the former couple.

“Everything happens for a reason. Things are the way they are,” Carey said.

As for Packer, the jungle drums are beating that the newly single 49-year-old former Crown chairman is currently in the Argentina capital of Buenos Aires.

But who is said to be with him adds another twist to this tale: his trusted and long-serving lieutenant Guy Jalland, and none other than Packer’s second ex-wife, model Erica Baxter.

The couple have three children together. Baxter lives in Los Angeles, where Packer visits often.

New Swiss digs

Personal details about the intensely private ports and logistics doyen Chris Corrigan are as rare as minarets in the Swiss Alps.

Chris Corrigan's new Swiss residence.

So here’s a new one to treasure: not only has Corrigan relocated to Switzerland, he’s got a new place there.

The 70-year-old’s primary residence has moved from a lake front spot in Morcote to an alpine residence near St Moritz. The new spot sits in a historic hotel that has been converted into a luxe apartment building.

It seems it was from here that Corrigan — the corporate star of the 1990s wharf dispute — plotted the multi-billion-dollar deal to take back control of Patrick (which he used to run) in a bid ­finalised this year, which has given Qube (of which he is, as of yesterday, the outgoing chair) a 50 per cent stake in Patrick alongside Canada’s Brookfield.

The new alpine residence is the latest addition to the Bowral High graduate’s European property portfolio, which includes a house in Chianti, about midway between Siena and Florence, across the Tuscan hills from the village of Asciano.

Legend has it that that name was then used by Toll executive Mark Rowsthorn for his logistics company in an attempt to psych out an old rival — a scheme that, according to the Corrigan camp, was thoroughly unsuccessful. But much like the ASX life of Rowsthorn’s subsequent trucking business McAleese (now in administration), that’s all ancient history.

Triggs turns page

The next chapter in the life of Gillian Triggs seems to be taking shape.

Gillian Triggs at the BCA dinner last week.

Yesterday afternoon Triggs, the outgoing president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, was spotted visiting the Swanston Street office of Melbourne University Publishing chief Louise Adler.

Wonder what the energetic book publisher and the bete noire of Australia’s political right wing were catching up about?

Their meeting took place nine days after Malcolm Turnbull announced that Triggs would not have her contract renewed when it expires in July next year. And it was eight days after the Prime Minister and Triggs were seated awkwardly close together at last week’s Business Council of Australia annual dinner.

A Triggs MUP tome — should one come to pass — would make her a stablemate of fellow Adler authors, including former editor-in-chief of this paper Chris Mitchell, diarist Mark Latham and the ABC’s new summer radio talent Kim Williams. Now there’s a dream dinner party cast.

Toasts to Sino Iron

While the newly slimmed down Clive Palmer was representing himself in Queensland’s Supreme Court this week, on the other side of the country the board of giant Chinese conglomerate CITIC — who were infamously labelled “Chinese bastards” and “mongrels” by Clive on Q&A when the Palmersaurus phenomenon was in full flight — were toasting the improving fortunes of their $12 billion Sino Iron venture.

Happier days: Im Woo-jae, left, and Lee Boo-jin during their wedding in August 1999.

CITIC’s board, which consists of 17 executives and directors with ties to the peak levels of Chinese business and politics, jetted into Perth on Monday for the first ever CITIC board meeting outside of China and Hong Kong.

The contingent enjoyed a formal dinner at the State Reception Centre at Kings Park on Tuesday night with dignitaries including Premier Colin Barnett, State Development Minister Bill Marmion and deputy opposition leader Roger Cook.

Then on Wednesday the party moved to the dust and heat of Western Australia’s Pilbara region to Sino Iron for what was the first ever visit to an iron ore mine for many of the board.

Among the CITIC directors in town was Lee Boo-jin, the glamorous 46-year-old heiress to the Samsung fortune and Korea’s richest woman (last valued at $2.3bn — although with a significant ongoing liability in the form of her ex, Im Woo-jae, who is currently in pursuit of Korea’s biggest ever divorce settlement).

There was no hi-viz and hard-hat for Lee, who skipped the trip up to the Pilbara in favour of other commitments.

She’s not the only billionaire on the CITIC board. Also there is Li Rucheng, a self-made garment entrepreneur, worth about $1.6bn.

The board visit bookends what has been a big year for Sino Iron, as the mega project continues to move on from its torrid earlier history of blowouts and delays, not to mention its corporate divorce from Palmer.

All six processing lines have been up and running for months, with each day of output helping to bury those memories.

Airport review

As the sale process for the Sunshine Coast Airport — every banker’s gateway to Noosa — nears fruition, work is also heating up on the western Sydney Airport project.

Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas.

Badgerys Creek has been the proposed site for Sydney’s second airport for years, but now Roger Feletto’s Greenhill has been handed the almost $1 million gig to undertake an independent review of the airport plan, work that is expected to take the firm through at least to Christmas.

The limited tender through which the role was appointed might have something to do with the excruciating process that Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has had the firm run for the sale of Greg Medcraft’s ASIC Registry business.

Final bids for the registry have been in since the end of August after indicative offers were made in February.

The privatisation was first announced in the May 2014 budget, with an initial public offering cited at the time as a preferred option. That’s an epic 2½ years ago.

For now, Cormann’s office says he is still considering those offers. Is it any wonder there’s a reporting season backlog of document processing at the ASIC registry base in Victoria’s Traralgon?