Packer severs ties with money man Onisforou; No lounging about for perky Canavan

Businessman Theo Onisforou’s long business association with the Packer family has ended.

James Packer looks to have formally cut ties with property juggler and his one-time right-hand Theo Onisforou, ending a business association that’s been live since 1994.

Margin Call hears that Packer has sold out of two companies linked with Onisforou. The billionaire’s representatives have come off the boards and left Onisforou to his own devices.

A multi-millionaire in his own right (but not part of the Monaco yacht set), Onisforou was once an adviser to Packer’s father, Kerry, and made his wealth buying up property in Sydney. Clearly that became a little staid after a while, hence the random detour into cattle rearing in the NSW southern highlands, where Onisforou made quite a ripple with Googol – the bull became a minor celebrity in 2014 for having the country’s highest semen count.

Currently on holidays in South Korea, Onisforou declined to comment on the corporate adjustments when Margin Call came knocking, although the impression left with us was that the separation wasn‘t all that amicable.

Details of the uncoupling were outlined to the corporate regulator stating that Packer’s financial supremo, Mike Johnston, resigned as a director of the two companies – Mistymill Pty Ltd and Mistysurf Pty Ltd – on August 7.

That was the day Packer, a director of both entities since 2018, sold his minority stakes to Onisforou for an undisclosed amount. This means the 55-year-old is no longer a director of any Australian corporate entity and his residence is a home in Aspen, Colorado, that he co-owns with former wife Erica Packer (who sold a house to her sister earlier this month for $1).

It would be only mischief for us to wonder if Onisforou was given the shove because Packer now gets his (financial) advice from Magellan founder and former investment banker Hamish Douglass.

Perks for all

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan starred on Monday during a senate committee grilling of maligned Qantas boss Alan Joyce that became the subject of much theatre and enjoyment.

Among the questions was whether Qantas had ever provided Anthony Albanese, or his family, with free or discounted flights during the PM’s time as transport minister, between 2007 and 2013.

Canavan asked that one, prefacing the query with an acknowledgment that he – like almost every member of parliament – is a member of the Qantas chairman’s lounge.

More questions followed, especially about the chairman’s lounge, with Joyce refusing to answer and Canavan suggesting the company could be compelled to do so. Tense times!

Senator Matt Canavan.

No issues with any of this, of course. But Margin Call was amused to learn that Canavan himself, only days ago, updated his disclosures to confirm his membership of the exclusive club.

Again, no harm with that. But was it because he’s only just joined, or has he been a member for years and, er, forgotten to declare his membership? Certainly would have been difficult to put the oxyacetylene on Joyce if Canavan himself didn’t have his affairs in order.

Turns out, yes, he’s been a card-carrying member of the chairman’s lounge since mid-2014, about a year after he was elected to parliament.

And yet a nearly 10-year delay in the declaration? A harmless oversight, surely, And. for good measure, Canavan’s now also listed his membership to Virgin Australia’s Beyond Lounge, in case anyone cares.

 

Solly’s in the shop

Solomon Lew continued his creep up the Myer share registry on Wednesday, with his Premier Investments nibbling at another 3 per cent of the department store to take his total holdings to nearly 29 per cent. He does this twice a year now.

Solomon Lew arrives. Picture: Ian Currie

Cute, too, is that the creep was on while Lew was doing a bit of encroachment himself at Myer Chadstone, where he was out mystery shopping (yet again), inspecting the fresh
fit-outs in women’s and men’s apparel. Hence Lew’s obscure MBWA qualification, which he’s known to boast about – that is, Management By Walking Around.

Pit stop

No time for a bathroom break when Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beech is handing down a long-awaited judgment involving Mercedes-Benz dealerships and their case against the German car manufacturer.

Some 239 people (mostly lawyers) were gathered on Microsoft Teams to hear Beech’s verdict on Wednesday (he chucked out the case, calling parts of it “exaggerated”) when proceedings were held up by someone using the lav – and inadvertently leaving their camera running at the same time.

The culprit? Their handle on Teams was “Dan (Guest)” and it certainly looked a hell of a lot like Dan Ryan, CEO of WFM Motors, right-hand man to executive chairman Nick Politis, who’s basically been funding the case against Mercedes over its new sales model.

“Could the parties on Teams once again just ensure their video is turned off,” the associate chided, no less than three times before “Dan” was finally kicked off the call.

A timely warning for us all.