Rob Luciano ready for a comeback; Ro Knox likely to take on Allegra Spender

Rob Luciano, formerly a fund manager at VGI Partners, is preparing to re-enter the market. Picture: Britta Campion

Almost a year after announcing a sabbatical from stock picking, and then bailing out of funds management altogether, Rob Luciano, founder of hedge fund VGI Partners and one of the most talked about characters in finance, appears to be suiting up for atmospheric re-entry to the market.

How else to explain the sudden registration of two businesses – RML Partnership and Rosca Capital Management – and the word getting around town that Luciano is weighing a plan to manage money again for the billionaire set. It’s what he did for the reclusive Angela Bennett and the late David Hains.

Is that why he’s telling pals he’s off to London and Switzerland later this month? We just know Luciano’s former lieutenant Doug Tynan will be among the many reading of these developments with at least a passing interest. Tynan was hired as a 24-year-old accountant out of Brisbane at VGI but left in 2021 to start GCQ Funds Management – and you best believe there’s plenty of crossover contacts between them.

Doug Tynan worked for VGI Partners but struck out with his own business in 2021.

Look, maybe we’re mistaken and Luciano’s real plan is to manage his own money. He’s got a chest full of treasure since the merging of VGI with Regal in 2022, giving him a 16 per cent holding after all was said and done. Regal’s market cap was in the ballpark of $875m at the time; today it’s just shy of $700m, enough to seed fund a new kid on the management block, if that’s where this is heading.

Margin Call asked Luciano directly and he was all praise for Regal. “I am a very happy Regal Partners shareholder and think (founder) Phil (King), (CEO) Brendan (O’Connor) and the team are doing a terrific job growing the business into Australia’s leading alternative asset management platform,” he said.

And the newly registered business names? It seems to be mostly personal – for the moment. “I have started to manage money again for my family as I love investing, and will continue to assess other opportunities.”

Wayward Wiki

Meanwhile, some developments with Luciano’s infamous Wikipedia page and a substantial facelift that it’s undergone over the past week – for the second time, no less. Unflattering paragraphs went missing last year only to faithfully resurface; the person responsible for removing them was later pinpointed as a well-intentioned ally of the former hedge fund manager. And yes, the incident was added to the page, of course.

Well, this time it looks like the tweaking was conducted by a seasoned Wiki moderator who’s gone about removing much of the snark levelled at Luciano and VGI Partners. This all having been posted by someone who, shall we say, may not have had his best interests at heart.

A look at the page now provides a much earlier (and far shorter) version of Luciano’s biography and personal life which, even in its sanitised state, is still a bit bruising in parts. One claim that resisted editing includes a suggestion that he installed a panic room in his office (he said it was a soundproofed meeting space); gone, however, is the reference to a tree-lopping incident from way back in 2021.

Interesting, too, that one anonymous user involved in all this malarkey, 28Blake2029, has not only had their editing privileges blocked but that the mod left a note rebuking them, which apparently isn’t common. The note said: “You’re obviously blocked, you and by now three other accounts, but I just want to leave a record of just how bad and improper your editing is.”

And for just a taste of how brutal this game can become, the name 28Blake2029 is apparently a reference to the street address of Luciano’s deceased parents.

Female appeal

Preselections coming up for the federal seat of Wentworth and it looks like only one nomination has come in – and it’s not Peter King, president of the local federal election committee, as many would have expected.

Was the 70-year-old barrister somehow convinced to pull out of contention and give a clear run to the upcoming female candidate? Who’s to say*. The vote’s scheduled for May 8 at Woollahra Golf Club and businesswoman Ro Knox, who ran against Kellie Sloane for preselection in Vaucluse, in 2022, is firming as most likely to step up. Her husband is ex-Credit Suisse banker John Knox.

Allegra Spender is likely to face a challenge for Wentworth from Ro Knox, a former management consultant who’s nominated for Liberal Party preselection. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Formerly a management consultant, Knox’s credentials are amply supported by some serious money and Liberal Party cred, her referees including Simon Moore of Colinton Capital Partners, former Credit Suisse Australia chairman John O’Sullivan (obvious workplace links there to Knox’s husband) and Janet McDonald, wife of former ABC chairman Donald McDonald (and we can only presume he supports Knox as well).

“In a nutshell, Ro is the type of person the Liberal Party has been widely criticised for failing to attract to its membership and party ranks,” said Moore, in a letter to Liberal state director Richard Shields, obtained by Margin Call. “Her inclusion and ultimate success in the preselection process will put paid to these criticisms and help ensure that the broad base of the Liberal Party is truly represented.”

O’Sullivan’s praise was equal in kind, highlighting a “significant reach in important demographics in the electorate”, which, given Knox’s address in Point Piper, probably refers to Wentworth’s affluent constituency, many of whom gave their money to Allegra Spender during the 2022 campaign, via the Climate200 mothership, of course.

Spender’s chief opponent at the time, Dave Sharma, now a NSW senator, won on primary votes but the Teal independent rushed over the line on preferences, securing a 2PP vote of 54-46, or a difference of about 8000 ­ballots.

Pending a serious and sudden backlash against Spender – one of the few Teals in parliament whose constituencies aren’t suffering from a severe case of voters’ remorse – it would appear Knox’s battle will certainly be waged up a hill next year.

* Yes, apparently.