Rumble in black-tie jungle
“Black Tie Amateur Boxing Evening” is without doubt the highlight of president John Hood’s private members institution, The Australian Club in Melbourne.
Fight night is now only three weeks away on July 21. Weigh-in commences at 6.45pm.
“Get ready to rumble,” as the invitation says.
The prestigious event — surely a key driver of membership for the ageing club, which was founded in 1878 — is held in a full-sized competition ring under the dome of the Main Dining Room. What better way to show off that splendid work of Victorian architecture than by using it to stage a blood sport?
President Hood — who is also chairman of another aged-care facility, Mecwacare — has outsourced the officiating duties for “Fight Club” to the Victorian Amateur Boxing Association.
The signature event will see some of Australia’s finest amateur boxers slug it out for the prized Australian Club Cup.
A three-course dinner and drinks will be served ringside for the black tie-clad guests. How civilised.
The club’s male-only members are allowed to bring female guests. It sounds like member Hugh Morgan has his date covered.
Ethics class is in
Spotted going in to The Ethics Centre yesterday at 4.30pm: a trim, bronzed Angus Aitken, the Kim Kardashian of Australian equities.
Aitken — known to many as the guy who gave Colin Bell’s balls a bollocking with a golf driver — was ducking into Simon Longstaff’s Ethics Centre for the last of his one-on-one lessons. His ASIC requirements were fulfilled, just ahead of the June 30 deadline.
The Ethics Centre is separated by only a courtyard from ANZ Tower, the Sydney outpost for Shayne Elliott’s bank. It’s less than 20 paces, as we found out during yesterday’s stake-out.
While Aitken’s Bali break has passed, his Twitter nemesis Paul Edwards’ much-needed convalescence continues.
Although Edwards — with the blessing of B.A. Santamaria’s son and ANZ’s head legal officer, Bob Santamaria — did interrupt his holiday a few days ago to delete his infamous “sexism” tweet.
Worryingly for Santamaria, the vacating Edwards has also found time to fire off four new tweets. We understand ANZ is yet to receive a legal action about any of them — yet.
Might be best to turn the thing off for a bit.
ANZ’s legal win
Of course, Bob Santamaria has bigger legal headaches on his plate — namely the case Greg Medcraft’s ASIC is pursuing over alleged rate rigging and the $2.5 billion claim by Pankaj and “wifey” Radhika Oswal.
And in that second, glamorous legal theatre, there seemed to be some good news for ANZ. The Federal Court yesterday found against Radhika in her case with Chris Jordan’s Australian Taxation Office.
The ATO is pursuing the vegetarian for about $50 million of allegedly unpaid taxes. The contested tax bill has been reduced from an earlier claim for $186m.
Yesterday’s judgment found that Radhika had misled her creditors with fraudulent mortgages on properties including “Taj on the Swan”, the $70m palace that she and her husband abandoned in Perth’s Peppermint Grove.
The judgment clears the way for the ATO to go after “Taj”, a lucrative plot of land soiled by a graffitied concrete shell. It’s the one the Shire of Peppermint Grove is itching to demolish.
The judgment was made by the West Australian division of the Federal Court, which explains why the glamour couple headed to Perth late last week. We thought they were just inspecting their mothballed motor yacht.
Here’s hoping yesterday’s adverse finding doesn’t bite into Radhika’s wardrobe allowance when her ambitious case against ANZ returns to Melbourne’s Supreme Court after a two-week winter recess.
Since Roxy Jacenko retreated to the luxurious Wolgan Valley resort in the NSW Blue Mountains, Pankaj’s “wifey” is the hope of the side.
Bell sounds out sale
Back to Colin Bell. It’s interesting to see the 74-year-old is apparently putting out the feelers for a sale of his Australian Food and Agriculture Company. The golfing tragic controls the $42m-a-year pastoral outfit with his brothers Andrew and Lewis, as well as Bell Financial boss Alastair Provan.
The agribusiness controls more than 225,000ha of land in some of the more fertile patches of southwestern NSW at Coonamble, Deniliquin and Hay. It also has 52,000 megalitres of water licences.
Last year profit jumped by a quarter to almost $6m.
But there is the wrinkle worthy of a hard-partying septuagenarian. The company owes Dutch agribusiness lender Rabobank $83m from what is a $90m facility. Still, better the Dutch than Shayne Elliott’s ANZ.
Keystone cops
For a time it seemed running pubs and clubs was much more fun than making television.
Not so any more for the who’s who of the TV world who played a part in the rapid expansion of now defunct hospitality group Keystone.
The restaurant group — which owned among other things the Woolloomooloo steakhouse Kingsleys, site of John Singleton’s near glassing of billionaire Jack Cowin — has been pushed into receivership by lenders KKR Credit and Olympus, who want their collective $80m back.
Former Ten boss and now Southern Cross Austereo chief Grant Blackley was called in to help investment banker Richard Facioni to structure the group’s merger with Pacific Restaurant Group in late 2014, as well as sort out financing for the deal.
KKR lent $50m and Olympus $30m so Keystone could buy the Jamie’s Italian Oz and Kiwi franchise, among other venues.
Keystone has been paying its interest but had breached its lending covenants. And it was unable to hand over a $25m cheque that was due to its lenders today.
If only it were back to happier times when Facioni and Blackley were bedding down the PRG deal. Blackley went on to run the merged Keystone for a year before he left to head Austereo Southern Cross more than a year ago, while Keystone executive chair Facioni went on to Trevor Loewensohn and Phil Green’s boutique investment bank, Alceon.
Waxing lyrical
Moving to a separate perilous situation, don’t things look dicey for music-streaming service Guvera after the ASX knocked back its listing? The outfit is desperately trying to raise $20m in fresh equity to stave off administration.
To help the cause, tattooed founder Claes Loberg waxed his weird beard, put on his finest oversized man jewellery and — wearing an ironic Akubra — mounted a case for his “unique beast” on YouTube. With production values that would impress former Colliers party boy “Huddo”, Loberg fronts an artfully produced two-camera shoot to set the record straight.
“I mean we do stream music, for sure,” Loberg explains from a chocolate leather sofa. “But just the same way that Ikea sells hot dogs but they’re not a hot dog company, we’re not just a streaming company.
“We’ve got a long journey ahead,” the misunderstood manchild continues.
“And we are still as committed on that path as we were one week ago, as we were eight years ago.”
If only the ASX had seen it the same way.
A creative flip-flop over terrorist imagery and arts grants
What faith would anyone hold in the leadership of Creative Australia when it flip-flops with such alacrity over a political crisis of its own making?
Artist who featured Hezbollah leader dropped as Australia’s pick for Venice jaunt
It looks like Margin Call’s deep dive into the questionable early oeuvre of Sydney artist Khaled Sabsabi has ended his selection as Australia’s pick for the Venice Biennale in 2026.