Racing Victoria’s bid to lure Gillon McLachlan may have run its course; Andrew Demetriou in last leg at Capitol Health

Racing fans and former AFL chiefs Gillon McLachlan, left, and Andrew Demetriou.

The only just recently former boss of the AFL, Gillon McLachlan, has been a ubiquitous presence during this year’s Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne.

The polo-loving McLachlan was spotted more often than star trainer Ciaron Maher at Flemington during the four-day Melbourne Cup carnival last week, between all his appearances in the Bird Cage, Committee Room and just about everywhere else at the racecourse.

McLachlan is also an enthusiastic punter and at times thoroughbred horse owner, but his invites have been all to do with authorities trying to convince him to become chairman of Racing Victoria.

The full court press on ­McLachlan included some small meetings on race day, though word is the charm offensive by the likes of Victorian racing minister Anthony Carbines may fall short.

While it may not necessarily be in a state of flux, Racing Victoria and its chief executive Andrew Jones have copped plenty of criticism from rusted-on racing types not enamoured with ideas such as whip-free races as part of a “Big Bash of racing” ­series being floated by the gov­erning body in recent months.

There have been rumours about the future of Jones, but he has also been a constant presence across racecourses during the spring carnival (it would be hard to rack up as many appearances as McLachlan, but Jones probably has), and the thought of racing types uniting to do ­anything let alone roll a CEO probably means he’s there for a while yet.

But Racing Victoria is now into its fifth month with an interim chairman, Mike Hirst, who has been filling in since Brian Kruger stepped down on June 30.

The Victorian government has advertised for a new non-executive director, with a deadline for applications set for November 26.

They certainly are waiting with bated breath to see if McLachlan will dust off and lob in his CV for the role – or would he rather consider an executive chairman role?

That remains to be seen, but sources have said he still is not sure what comes next.

It would be fun to see him go head to head with Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys though, having jousted with the great man in PVL’s other role as NRL chairman during rugby league and Aussie rules’ battles for the hearts and minds of a nation.

Demetriou in sights

Meanwhile, another former boss of the AFL in Andrew Demetriou may also have a bit more time on his hands soon.

Demetriou, who it turns out is also a keen racing fan (as, by the way, is new AFL CEO Andrew Dillon), looks like having to deal with irate shareholders at the Capitol Health annual general meeting on Wednesday.

Capitol shares are down about 40 per cent this year and there’s rumours of some disquiet among shareholders that Demetriou is still chairman after nine years. Demetriou has already said he will leave in a year’s time when he racks up a memorable decade in the role, but in a quirk has had to offer himself up for re-election on Wednesday even though he was re-elected for a three-year term in 2021.

There’s only five members of the Capitol board and a clause in the company’s constitution basically says one-third of directors have to retire at every AGM. With a small board, it is already Demetriou’s turn to stand again.

Other stocks in Capitol’s neck of the woods – it provides diagnostic imaging and related services – are also struggling, but it still may be line-ball as to whether Demetriou gets the required votes to stay around for 12 months. Whatever the case, Capitol is probably Demetriou’s last public board after the fun he had as a director of Crown Resorts, which featured a “quite bizarre” performance as a witness at the NSW inquiry into Crown in 2020, according to the inquiry’s report.

The next Capitol Health chairman is likely to be Herbert Smith Freehills partner Richard Loveridge, who won grand finals at Hawthorn in the VFL in the 1980s.

Jersey sure thing

If you were going to incorporate the third-biggest lithium producer in the world, where would you choose? Australia? Argentina? The US? The answer might be a bit of a poser for Australian shareholders in Allkem, now closing on its blockbuster merger with US-headquartered Livent.

Lithium is a sure thing in Jersey. Picture: Bloomberg

The answer – presumably after much soul searching – is that well-known mining jurisdiction, the Bailiwick of Jersey, with tax residency solely in Ireland.

To be fair to the Irish, the country does actually have some prospective lithium deposits – China’s Ganfeng, for one, has a project in the country. But the benefits of tax residency in the country for merged entity Arcadium Lithium, according to the independent expert report into the transaction, include the fact that the “Republic of Ireland’s tax regime is stable and competitive”.

Ireland’s tax advantages also include an extensive double tax treaty network and a “favourable taxation regime for foreign dividends”.

Low corporate taxes probably won’t cause many Australian investors to baulk at the transaction, to be fair, but the company’s incorporation in Jersey might give a few people pause for thought.

The incorporation effectively exempts Arcadium from most of Australia’s Corporations Act, as well as ASX disclosure rules.

Instead, the company will only be required to file to the ASX the documents its US arm files to the SEC – where the company will not be “generally required to publicly disclose material price-sensitive information until the next quarterly report or a specific disclosure requirement arises in respect of the matter”.

And the exemption from Australian laws also includes the pesky takeovers provision of the Corporations Act, which requires anyone buying more than a 20 per cent stake in a company to make the same offer to all shareholders.

While there’s no obvious suitor on the horizon for the combined group, the change of jurisdiction does raise the possibility Arcadium could eventually be subject to the kind of surprise change of control that rocked Coronado minority holders in late September.

Inside Myer

If you’ve ever wondered just how wealthy the famously private establishment Myer family is, some documents recently lodged with the corporate regulator shed some light on the matter.

Sidney Myer.

The Myer Family Investments Limited is one of a slew of private companies lodging financial reports for the first time with the previous grandfathering provisions under the Corporations Act dating back to the mid-1990s ends.

Myer Family Investments is a diversified investment house and the family’s primary business with its links to the Myer department chain are long gone.

Chaired by Sidney Myer and run by CEO John Russell, MFI had a net asset value of almost $1.51bn at June 30, according to its 2023 annual report, up from $1.41bn a year earlier.

MFI made a statutory net profit of $107m, including big gains on the value of its assets and $23m in dividend and distribution income.