Packer’s surprise investment after reaping $3.3bn from Crown Resorts

James Packer has returned to the media sector, accumulating an $122m stake in media and entertainment giant Paramount Global, which owns Network Ten.

James Packer’s right-hand-man Ben Tilley has his own luxury apartment a couple of floors up from Packer’s in the Crown Residences at One Barangaroo.

In mid-2021, Tilley forked out just under $9m to Crown Sydney Property Pty Ltd for his own piece of Packer’s $2.4bn casino development, securing a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment affording sweeping views of Sydney Harbour, the Opera House, Darling Harbour, the Blue Mountains and beyond.

Tilley’s Crown apartment is on the 51st floor of the high-rise development, while Packer’s sky home, which amalgamates two apartments, spans levels 48 and 49. Tilley, along with his former wife Tiffany Tilley, used to own the harbourfront Point Piper mansion next door to that of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, but the home was sold in 2020.

Now Tilley has his latest harbourfront abode, the Crown apartment, up for rent, available from mid-January for a mere $5500 a week, plus the commitment of a $22,000 bond.

For that, Tilley’s tenant also gets access to the full array of Crown’s six-star hotel services including 24-hour concierge, valet parking, residents-only pool, tennis court, gymnasium, day spa, housekeeping, room service. You get the picture.

And you might even bump into a billionaire or two along the way.

He’s back

Australian billionaire-at-large James Packer has returned to the media sector, accumulating an $US80m ($122m) stake in international mass media and entertainment giant Paramount Global, which owns Australian free-to-air broadcaster Network Ten.

The businessman, Margin Call can reveal, has recently amassed a broader portfolio of investments in the US sharemarket worth $US363.7m, offering the first insight into the reclusive businessman’s investment priorities since he reaped $3.3bn in cash from the sale of his stake in Crown Resorts in early 2022.

Documents filed with American regulators reveal Packer, 56, has also retained an indirect interest in the fortunes of Crown via a $53m stake in listed management vehicle Blackstone Inc, which manages Blackstone funds, including those that now own Crown.

Packer, who maintains homes around the world, including a $70m apartment at Crown residences at One Barangaroo in Sydney, was last estimated in this masthead’s Richest 250 to be worth $3.7bn. The portfolio of US stocks would account for more than 15 per cent of his total wealth.

News of Packer’s renewed focus on investing his Crown proceeds comes amid reports that he is re-engineering his band of most trusted advisers.

Although no formal documents have been registered with local authorities, it has been reported that the chief executive of his private Consolidated Press Holdings, Guy Jalland, 67 and who is based in Monaco, has left his position, along with Sydney-based finance director Michael Johnston, 63.

For now, both remain the only directors of CPH, with no indication of who might assume those key roles. Johnston was responsible for the fresh report to American regulators outlining Packer’s latest investments.

Packer was contacted by Margin Call for comment.

Other companies now favoured by the billionaire are revealed by stakes he owns in other private equity giants KKR and Apollo Global Management. The stakes are all held via Packer’s Consolidated Press International Holdings Ltd, which also owns the Australian investment vehicle CPH. ConsPress International is ultimately domiciled in the Bahamas, which is considered a tax haven.

Packer’s Paramount stake sees him on the register of investors alongside the company’s non-executive chair Shari Redstone, whose family controls the media empire via its National Amusements.

Redstone is reported to be in talks to sell NA’s Paramount stake, so that the $US10.1bn company is now considered to be in play.

Behind Paramount and Blackstone, Packer’s third-largest holding is in US tech giant Intercontinental Exchange. The $US67.5bn company owns and operates financial and commodity marketplaces and exchanges.

A suite of investments by Packer in other media and tech stocks, including Netflix, Spotify Technology, SAP, Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc (formerly Square Inc) and Microsoft — among many others — may reflect the influence of his new investment committee, which includes technology entrepreneur Daniel Nadler.

It has been reported that former investment banker and founder of fund manager Magellan Hamish Douglass, however, is now taking a reduced role as an adviser to Packer’s private affairs.

Since exiting Magellan last year amid the demise of his marriage and then selling the bulk of his shareholdings in the shrinking financial services group, Douglass has maintained a low profile, but continues to draw a consultancy fee from the floundering listed group.

Douglass’s investments for Magellan have historically included MasterCard and Visa, which also feature in Packer’s list of investments.

Other long-term close confidante and constant companion to the peripatetic billionaire Ben Tilley, 57 and who was a school chum of Packer’s at exclusive Sydney boys school Cranbrook, is said to have also exited his old friend’s employ.

Sail of the century

But if you have the cash to splash and really want to live like a billionaire or a member of his coterie, James Packer now has his $250m gigayacht IJE up for charter.

The yacht, which was named after the first initial of each of the businessman’s children with his former wife Erica Packer, was placed on the market by Packer in 2021, with the billionaire then seeking €175m ($290m) for the two-year-old vessel.

Packer was often snapped aboard with girlfriends, myriad models and mates – including the likes of the aforementioned Ben Tilley, Guy Jalland, Hamish Douglass, Aussie TV anchor Karl Stefanovic and Hollywood film producer Brett Ratner – in some of the world’s most glamorous destinations.

James Packer’s IJE superyacht is yours to rent for $3m a week, plus expenses

But the yacht was eventually taken off the market and now Packer is seeking to at least generate some return from his mega toy investment.

Now mere mortals can hire IJE, which since the end of October has been docked at Barcelona in Spain, for a cool €1.8m ($3m) a week (plus expenses) during the northern hemisphere’s warmer climes from May to September.

IJE is available to trip about the Mediterranean region including Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and Turkey, taking in suggested hot spots such as the Amalfi Coast, Corsica, the French Riviera, Ibiza, Mykonos, Sardinia and the Balearics.

Sounds terrible.

You can have it in winter too, but the price remains the same.