Knock ’em down Lucy Turnbull eyes rebuild; Oil Search’s dirt to be aired in court
Margin Call happened upon plans lodged this month with Woollahra Council for a $2.5m development in historic Paddington, submitted by one Lucy Turnbull.
Turns out it’s a knockdown-rebuild of a two-storey Victorian terrace that’s been in the family for more than 50 years. It was first owned by Turnbull’s late mother, Joanna Hughes, who passed away, aged 94, in August.
It’s actually the house where Lucy and her two siblings grew up, and where her mother had been living since 1972 after splitting up with noted barrister and politician Thomas Hughes, QC (Lucy’s dad).
Lucy ended up buying the property from the family trust in 2014 for $2.8m so her mother could stay in place. As to specifics of why that was necessary, we weren’t able to establish them, but you can bet the land has improved in value.
Still, the house has had its day. The plan is to gussy up the site into a modern pile with a revamped garage and swimming pool (it’s currently got one of those dated granolithic numbers, its surface tinged an algal shade at the moment) … and to give it to Daisy Turnbull! (Lucy lives with Malcolm in Point Piper).
Daisy, a schoolteacher, already lives a short distance up the road in one of the terraces and co-owns that, too, with her mother; presumably she’ll stay there when the building starts.
Well, if the council approves the plans, of course.
No heritage listing on the property as such, and surrounding homes have had plenty of touch-ups. Still, it’s a tricky area.
Oil Search’s dirt to be aired in court
Muskets at dawn this Tuesday in the NSW Supreme Court as hearings commence between oil and gas veteran Ayten Saridas and her former employers at Oil Search, an ailing company that merged with Santos in 2021.
Oil Search was clearly in deep financial turmoil at the time of those negotiations and Saridas’ case, in the way of most legal actions, threatens to ventilate all of this unpleasantness and abruptly end what’s been a sleeping dog for the past three years.
Saridas was hired as the CFO-designate of Oil Search in mid 2020 – but quit after four months on highly disagreeable terms with the CEO, Kieran Wulff.
We’ve written about Wulff before. He resigned shortly after Saridas but had the benefit of leaving on medical grounds; this while numerous complaints had lobbed over his “management style” and an investigation was performed into his conduct.
Santos could have settled this case months ago and prevented a circus, but come next week there’ll be a series of witnesses on the stand having their feet held to the fire, including the aforementioned Wulff, former chair Richard Lee, Santos’ own director, Eileen Doyle, and other former Oil Search non-executive directors like Fiona Harris, Agu Kantsler and Susan Cunningham.
We expect much to be said about Wulff’s behaviour as a boss, the complaints made against him and the external legals brought in to establish whether misconduct took place.
But more uncomfortable will be Oil Search’s seriously distressed financial position and, perhaps, some of the decision-making on disclosures to the board and the market, which may or may not have been happening in a timely fashion.
Directors will almost certainly be asked what they knew of, and when, any unscrupulous conduct.
The genesis for it all is that Saridas left Oil Search due to her concerns about the company’s governance and what was said to be an irreconcilable falling out with the CEO.
She signed a nondisclosure agreement on the way out, but some individuals might have violated that agreement and spoken ill of her once she’d left, basically saying she was sacked – and this may have cost her some lucrative job opportunities since. No suggestion that was Wulff; someone else’s name is more likely to be mentioned instead.
But really you have to wonder why Santos didn’t just bud-nip this one years ago and end it all with a settlement. It’s spent a pretty penny fortifying itself too, and on the old cost/benefit scale, it’s hard to understand why.
Meanwhile, Saridas has put up her house and says the action has cost her in the order of $800,000; Santos’ bill is thought to be even larger.
As she was quoted in a newspaper report last year, she’s pretty much doing this to correct the record and salvage her reputation: “I’ve lost so much money out of this already. I’m on medication I shouldn’t be. I never was before. I’m not where I was, and I’m not who I was back then. I’ve got nothing left to lose.”
A lot riding on this for everyone, clearly, but fear most the person with nothing left to lose.
No fan of accurate reporting
Once upon a time renewables play Magnis Energy was a veritable market darling. Now it’s a common-as-muck dog stock entering its fifth month of suspended trade; this on account of its ongoing war with the market operator and its concern with the company’s disclosures, or lack thereof.
But they’re all just the tip of Magnis’ problems, as this masthead’s David Ross has been writing about for months.
Ross has broken numerous scoops on Magnis’ inconveniences. He revealed that it had lost control of its American gigafactory (without telling shareholders) and that it had been making investments in rival companies bearing links to Magnis directors (again, without telling shareholders).
He also revealed a $243m client was actually the rump operation of a former gas bottling business, and that this odd-looking concern was run part-time from a house in East London, which all sounds a bit untidy, innit.
Clearly no fan of his journalism, Ross was not a welcome character inside the December AGM. There, he was allegedly accosted by a low-echelon character who expressed his displeasure with the reporting by manhandling the scribe out of the room. In doing so, he allegedly made a number of threats and (helpfully) told Ross that he’d been taking photos of him. Not a bird of high altitude, it would seem.
“I’ll come after you, you f..king c..t,” is one alleged remark. “Get out dickhead, I’ll f..king thump you,” was another of the allegations.
All of which have led to criminal charges for the man in question, Matthew Boysen, aged 52, a leading shareholder at Magnis. He’s been slapped with a charge of common assault plus a stalk and intimidate offence.
Not his first time tangling with Ross, either. He took the journalist to Melbourne Magistrates Court in December trying to (unsuccessfully) use an intervention order to stop some of Ross’ reporting on the company.
Appearing remotely on that occasion, Boysen was seen on screen with a collection of protein supplements close at hand. There was also a moment of philosophical argument with the magistrate over the nature of news. As stated, he didn’t win that one.
Similarly, he elected not to appear in court for his first appearance this week on the assault charge, tuning in from a car, of all places, alongside his barrister Angelika Yianoulatos, who informed registrar Tim Henderson that she was “confident this matter will be able to be resolved”.
It’s been held over until April 24, and we’re eager to learn of the outcome, of course. A criminal conviction could result in him being disqualified as a company director, which may in turn jeopardise his position on the board of listed uranium player Gladiator Resources.
Fewer problems, however, for his other concern. Boysen’s nine-to-five? He’s a furniture salesman.
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