Rich-listers lurk behind AMP’s Catherine Brenner

Illustration: Rod Clement

Billionaire Gretel Packer, chairman of everything David Gonski, One.Tel founder Jodee Rich: there’s a glittering Sydney eastern suburbs cast in the orbit of besieged AMP chairman Catherine Brenner.

But will the powerful entourage advising Brenner be able to elongate her chairmanship of imperilled AMP?

Since the wealth giant’s ­humiliation in Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission, the company has lost more than $1 billion in shareholder value. Its stock has closed in the red for eight consecutive days.

Following shocking revelations that Brenner’s AMP lied to corporate regulator ASIC about its fees-for-no-service rort, Scott Morrison has mooted jail time for those involved — from the top down.

In the here and now, influential shareholders are threatening to vote against the re-election of the three directors up for ­re-election at AMP’s annual meeting on May 10.

The trio in the cross-hairs are former Booz partner Van­essa Wallace (who joined the consultant-loving firm’s board in 2016), former Nine director Holly Kramer (who left Peter Costello’s media outfit to join the wealth giant early last year) and Andrew Harmos (who joined last June and made his name at the Auckland-based law firm he co-founded, Harmos Horton Lusk).

Some investors have said they will vote against the lot of them in a fortnight’s time, unless Brenner steps down from the $11.8bn-and-shrinking firm.

So who is advising Brenner, 47, as she battles to restore her smashed reputation and keep the prestigious $660,000-a-year gig she took over from Simon McKeon in bizarre circumstances two years ago?

Gonski, who in 2008 appointed the then 37-year-old investment banker Brenner to his Coca-Cola Amatil board, will certainly be behind the scenes lending moral support.

While AMP won’t confirm it, Matthew Grounds’ investment bank UBS and its rival Nicholas Moore’s Macquarie have both been working for the dazed and confused wealth business. Both advisory firms — along with just about every consultancy in the land — were last year engaged by Brenner as AMP plotted its uncertain future.

Also helping out is Sue Cato, crisis manager to Sydney’s eastern suburbs set.

And right by the chairman’s side is her husband Phillip Brenner, 57, once a leading urologist, who as Margin Call revealed last week is now enjoying a renaissance as a Sydney property developer.

The ex-medico is not short of eastern suburbs colour himself.

He’s the older brother of Maxine Brenner, a well-regarded director on the boards of Leigh Clifford’s airline Qantas, Gordon Cairns’ gas outfit Origin and Malcolm Broomhead’s explosives maker Orica.

And Maxine’s the wife of Jodee Rich, the irrepressible entrepreneur of One.Tel infamy.

Indeed, Phillip is said to have introduced Rich to future One.Tel investor James Packer. That was back when the younger Phillip was dating James’s big sister Gretel Packer.

That glitzy social network has provided Brenner with plenty of examples that life can go on after scandal.

Gretel had a failed marriage to her spiritual adviser Shane Murray. Rich oversaw the multi-billion dollar implosion of his billionaire-backed telco start-up.

And in 2015, Phil had his medical practitioner’s authority to supply, possess or issue prescriptions for addictive drugs withdrawn by NSW authorities shortly before he retired as one of the country’s leading urologists.

These people know how to do, and survive, personal crisis.

So whatever the outcome of the AMP chairman’s game of chicken with her furious shareholders, life will go on for the popular Brenners.

The couple are not known as Centennial Park royalty for nothing.

Forget me not

Remember celebrity financial adviser Sam Henderson?

He was the 45-year-old money man in the makeup, who on Tuesday was publicly humiliated at Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission for the “risible” wealth advice he gave Fair Work commissioner Donna McKenna.

By late Tuesday night, hours after the likely career-ending questioning by counsel assisting Rowena “Shock and” Orr, it seemed the Melbourne-born Henderson was hoping the world might forget about him.

All of a sudden, the now Sydneysider’s personal website samhenderson.com.au — with the tagline “Remember there’s no such thing as a silly question when it comes to your own money” — disappeared from the internet.

Hoping the world forgets about him?

Henderson, the former Network 10, Financial Review and Sky News Business talent, runs his Henderson Maxwell outfit from CBD offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Maxwell, for the record, is the financial planner’s middle name.

Sam Henderson, right, leaves the royal commission earlier this week

He’s held a financial services licence since 2011, although that’s looking endangered after revelations his employees impersonated clients to access their superannuation accounts.

Records reveal that Henderson operates a web of corporate vehicles, including a rash of new entities created towards the end of last year.

Margin Call’s favourite is Your Business Prophets Pty Ltd, which was created only weeks ago and has the crafty adviser as a director, shareholder and secretary.

The public, professional dismembering leaves Henderson now contemplating his future from his multi-million-dollar oceanfront property in Sydney’s North Curl Curl. As of last night, his hendersonmaxwell.com.au site — festooned with pictures of the pocket-square-loving adviser — was still up and running. Shameless.

Unlikely bedfellows

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield’s heroic liberation of cross-media laws is now more than six months old, but still no deals from Australia’s unshackled media companies.

So what of speculation the Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven Network is in talks with the Nick Falloon-chaired Fairfax about a merger?

Margin Call can reveal a polite call was made by the friendly compliance folk at Dominic Stevens’ ASX to the Tim Worner-run Seven in recent days following reports it was cooking up a deal with the Greg Hywood-led slimmed down newspaper group.

Seven told the ASX: “Nothing to see here, folks.”

A deal with Fairfax would certainly fly in the face of the recent close relations between Seven and News Corp (publisher of this newspaper).

Earlier this month, Seven and Foxtel signed a $1.2 billion deal to broadcast the cricket, while News occupies office space in Perth that is controlled by Seven. And Stokes prints The Australian in Western Australia, good man, and only recently bought The Sunday Times from News to complement his West Australian. But then again, media land can throw up strange turns of events.

The still Fairfax-controlled Domain remains a jewel Stokes, Hugh Marks’s Nine and even Shayne Elliott’s ANZ would love to get their hands on.

And both Seven and Fairfax are moving out of their Pyrmont HQs and could emerge as neighbours in Eveleigh. It would be like bit like hooking up with the girl next door.