The future sister-in-law of billionaire Alex Waislitz has dropped a bomb on her family in the Victorian Supreme Court, revealing that she’s suing the philanthropist and his fiancee over a Toorak apartment allegedly promised to her in a years-old handwritten agreement.
Former reality television personality Venus Behbahani, who appeared in the Real Housewives of Melbourne series, lodged the action against Waislitz’s Thorney Equities Pty Ltd on Thursday afternoon.
Doing so took a hitherto private dispute and thrust it into the public domain, setting the course for a messy and unedifying public feud between Waislitz, his partner and her sister, the latter two having been impeccably close throughout their lives. Not any more, it seems.
Behbahani’s lawyer declined to comment, but Margin Call established that the rift pertains to an apartment on Canberra Rd, Toorak, where Behbahani resided for a period. Waislitz is engaged to Behbahani’s sister, Rebekah, and the pair have a child together.
The dispute traces its way back to a period of weeks in 2019 when Waislitz and his fiancee agreed to a separation.
It was during those weeks that a separation agreement was drawn up for Rebekah, stipulating that she would be provided with two adjacent Toorak properties owned by Thorney Equities.
Rebekah is alleged to have then signed a handwritten deed of gift to her sister, which said that one of the apartments would be given to her.
This document is pivotal to Behbahani’s case against her sister and Waislitz.
The separation never proceeded and the couple reconciled shortly after, allegedly invalidating the agreement Rebekah had signed with her sister – or so the Waislitz camp is expected to argue. A spokesman for Waislitz and Rebekah told Margin Call: “The claim is denied and will be vigorously defended.”
Holgate in contention
Christine Holgate, formerly the CEO of Australia Post, is one of a handful of candidates still being considered to replace Gillon McLachlan as the boss of the AFL.
Interviews were held at the close of last week with six prospects, among them AFL executives Travis Auld, Kylie Rogers, Andrew Dillon and Richmond Football Club chief Brendon Gale. Holgate is understood to have been one of two external candidates selected by recruitment firm Spencer Stuart.
The Age newspaper published an article days after the interviews suggesting Auld would be a favourite to replace Australian Grand Prix board chief Andrew Westacott should his (Auld’s) bid to succeed McLachlan fail, leading some observers to conclude he was already out of the race. We’ll soon learn if they’re right.
Holgate – who was contacted for comment – has led the private equity owned Team Global Express for 18 months. She’s also a director of Collingwood FC, having been appointed to the board in 2016.
Not to jump the gun, but it’s difficult to say whether accepting the AFL role would be a downshift or not on her present salary, although patching over would stand to significantly boost her personal profile.
Holgate’s compensation – around $2.5m when she led Australia Post – isn’t disclosed by TGE, and neither is McLachlan’s by the AFL. His remuneration has remained unpublished since 2016, a deviation from the standard adhered to by his predecessor, Andrew Demetriou – his published salary included $3.8m comprised earnings and bonuses in 2013, followed by a $2m package for his closing seven months as CEO in 2014.
As for McLachlan, we’re hearing multiple reports that he’s already turned down a lucrative offer to lead an agency promoting sporting events in Saudi Arabia. That gig is said to have attracted a wage in the realm of $US10m per year, and would probably have required him to relocate.
Not for all the money in the world, it would seem.
Get the message
Fans of the Western Sydney Wanderers were rudely interrupted with an SMS blast from the football club on Thursday afternoon that seemed to spruik the Liberal-National coalition ahead of Saturday’s election contest.
That was just hours after NSW Sport Minister Alister Henskens announced a re-elected government would provide $10m to the club so it can build an indoor community centre in the western Sydney suburb of Rooty Hill.
The text message, obtained by Margin Call, hyped up the commitment and provided a link to the Wanderers homepage, where a supplied government media release – which was never released to the media – expounded on the matter in great detail.
Not that the announcement is likely to come to fruition, of course. Rooty Hill falls within the federal seat of Chifley, held by federal Industry Minister Ed Husic, and locally within the seat of Mount Druitt, held by NSW Labor’s Edmond Atalla. Both electorates have been safe Labor fiefdoms since the early 1970s, when Henskens was not long out of short pants.
Not that Chris Minns hasn’t given the Wanderers some love of his own. In a ring-kissing moment with club chairman Paul Lederer last week, the NSW Labor leader committed a modest package of $6.5m to partner with Wanderers on an after-school care program.
Strangely, no SMS blast cheering the prospect of a NSW Labor government after that meeting. The club didn’t comment.
Rowsthorn row
Varde Partners is certainly looking a little vindictive in its game of hardball with former Toll executive Mark Rowsthorn, whose Rivet Mining Services was placed into administration this week.
While they were bedfellows, the distressed debt investor bailed out Rivet Group by refinancing its lenders to the tune of more than $200m. Any outstanding goodwill since then appears to have evaporated entirely.
Varde appointed FTI Consulting as receivers to Rivet Mining Services and its parent company, Blondie Trading, but documents filed with the regulator indicate Varde also appointed EY as administrators to control all elements of the businesses. One industry figure said that alone underscored Varde’s distrust and dislike of Rowsthorn and his operations, but removing him as a director of a Blondie Trading subsidiary seemed to underscore a heightened level of animosity.
It seems Rowsthorn was removed as a director of SMS Rental (WA) and replaced with appointee Ken Wakefield, an odd move given SMS Rental is not in administration. Questions were put to FTI Consulting about this decision but these went unanswered.
It comes after FTI said its appointment related to RMS rather than the broader group of companies, all of which would “continue to trade in their usual manner and have the ongoing support of their senior secured lender”. Well, that didn’t last long. What led to this drying up of goodwill? It’s understood Rowsthorn has been trying to renegotiate terms with Varde for some months, with the process trying the firm’s patience.
Just did it: Nike cuts ties with Grace Tame
Sportswear giant Nike has terminated its partnership with former Australian of the Year Grace Tame over inflammatory online posts that attacked Jewish supporters of Israel.
Enemies on the trail of Getswift’s fugitive wannabe influencer
Getswift boss Joel Macdonald’s vanishing act wasn’t confined to his $200m fortune and now a YouTube debut has left clues to his whereabouts for both web sleuths and burnt business associates.