Packer bets the house always wins; The Lib candidate who’s taken a Cook’s tour of seats

From casinos to property, James Packer usually punts on projects with solid returns. Picture: David Caird.

Billionaire James Packer and his co-investors in a suite of multimillion-dollar property developments in Australia’s major cities have struck again, lodging plans to spend $32m to create a new residential precinct in Melbourne’s inner east.

Packer and his property developer business partner Todd Nisbet, a former executive at the formerly Packer-controlled Crown Resorts, are part of a consortium that is liaising with local planning authorities at the City of Boroondara to build 31 homes in the leafy suburb of Balwyn.

The group last year spent an unknown amount to secure an almost 4000sq m site on Maleela Ave, which was the site of a retirement village operated by Aveo.

The move comes as a decision on the future of the group’s plans to develop a property in the Geelong suburb of Corio hangs in the balance, with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal still deliberating on planning approvals for the site after a hearing several weeks ago.

Local planners have rejected the Edenville Corio group’s plans on several occasions, with the consortium taking its battle to the higher authority.

That plan is to build about 110 homes on land formerly owned by the Victorian Department of Education.

That battle for planning approval has been running for almost 18 months.

An investment fund associated with former ABC director Joe Gersh is also part of both deals.

The Balwyn approvals process is complicated by a heritage overlay on the site.

Over recent months Packer and Nisbet have plunged investment into large-scale residential developments planned for Potts Point in Sydney’s inner east and Manly in the harbour city’s north.

The pair have also acted as financiers to the planned development of the Lindrum hotel site on Melbourne’s Flinders St.

The latest bricks and mortar play in Balwyn comes as Packer’s private Consolidated Press Holdings is now run by Sydney money man Lawrence Myers.

This follows the departure over the summer of Packer’s long-trusted CPH executives Mike Johnston and Guy ­Jalland.

Packer has also distanced himself from his long-time friend Ben Tilley, although Packer has said recently the pair remain friends.

On the weekend, Packer was in Las Vegas, Nevada to watch the South Sydney Rabbitohs, which he co-owns, play as the NRL launched its march into the US.

He was there with fellow Rabbitohs investors and directors, as well as friends.

Cook’s tour

The good people of Cronulla might want to know that their new conservative candidate for Scott Morrison’s long-held seat of Cook, former McKinsey management consultant Simon Kennedy, has long preferred the other side of Botany Bay to their own.

The newly preselected Liberal candidate for the soon to be held by-election in the Sydney seat has been shopping for a shot at the federal parliament for some time, seemingly no matter what side of Sydney waters that seat might sit.

At the May 2022 election, Kennedy, 41, was the (unsuccessful) Liberal candidate for the seat of Bennelong, vacated by former Aussie tennis great John Alexander and lost to Labor’s Jerome Laxale.

Former McKinsey management consultant and candidate for Cook Simon Kennedy. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Now Kennedy has landed the safe seat of Cook, which the Libs hold by a margin of 12.5 per cent, all the while being a seaside resident and homeowner on Maroubra’s spectacular Marine Parade with the waves crashing on the cliffs below this wannabe pollie’s multimillion-dollar home.

About five years ago Kennedy paid $4.2m for his home, which appears to be subject to a caveat from his mum. Kennedy’s residence places him in ALP territory in the seat of Kingsford Smith, but potentially not for long, with the candidate indicating he was planning to move into his own prospective electorate – but don’t they all say that?

We shall see if the 40 minute-odd drive will be worth the upheaval.

A bridge too far

It’s not just the recruitment of a new Virgin Australia boss to replace Jayne Hrdlicka that’s focusing the minds of the airline’s owners at Bain Capital.

Also weighing on the private equiteers is the prospect of Virgin having to soon repay a $300m loan that the airline took out last May to help cover the $730m capital return to Bain.

The two-year bridging loan is believed to have been provided by UBS and Goldman Sachs, negotiated as part of a Virgin IPO mandate.

The loan is secured against Virgin assets and expires in May next year. The agreement was for the loan to be repaid out of float proceeds, but now that an IPO looks dead in the water between now and May 2025, securing new funding to replace the bridge will likely be Hrdlicka’s swan song and a priority task for the airline’s CFO Race Strauss.

Jayne Hrdlicka is departing Virgin Australia after four years as chief executive. Picture: Bloomberg

From when the bridge was struck Bain effectively gave itself a two-year window to float.

Almost half of that time has already ticked away, with just a bit more than a year left until GS and UBS will have to be repaid.

Margin Call understands that starting a refinancing process sooner rather than later now gives Bain room to negotiate with prospective lenders; the closer to May next year the private equity owners go without a new deal being struck reduces their bargaining power and leverage with banks. Other credit lines are also believed to be part of the negotiation.

A spokesman for Bain declined to comment.