S. Kidman & Co back on the block

Illustration: Jon Kudelka.

The descendants of Sidney Kidman are at it again. The twice burnt process for Australia’s most controversial property sale is rising again — like a bloodied, bandaged phoenix.

We’ve heard S. Kidman & Co’s idiosyncratic advisers EY are working on a new shortlist, which they want to deliver to the Kidman board not long after the July 2 federal election.

EY’s lead partner Don Manifold is nothing if not persistent.

As revealed by this paper this week, Michael Photios’ business partner Nick Campbell is also helping on strategic and government relations advice for the controversial sale.

Despite the political hurdles, it seems EY should have more than a few promising options to present to the board.

No one will be surprised to hear that all — bar the unlikely tilt by billionaire Lindsay Fox’s son Andrew — are expected to have a majority foreign partner and a complementary local minor to help with the PR/political campaign.

The tenacious, twice jilted Chinese billionaire Gui Goujie will be back with his Shanghai Pengxin to bid for the portfolio of properties, which all up makes up about 1 per cent of Australia’s land mass.

James Jackson’s listed tiddler Australian Rural Capital should again be their minor Aussie partner — with either a larger role than last time around or, perhaps, a second Aussie in tow.

Shanghai Pengxin’s last bid (of almost $370 million) was rejected in April by Scott Morrison, who said it wasn’t in the national interest.

Pengxin’s earlier bid (for about $350m) was scotched in November because of security concerns. Apparently the main source of angst was coming out of the Pentagon rather than the Department of Defence in Canberra.

So, third time lucky?

That will depend on politics. There’s no doubt the bidders would prefer to be dealing with Chris Bowen as treasurer.

But if, as seems likely, they have to pass Treasurer Morrison? The phoenix might have to rise a few times yet.

Eddie takes flight

Speaking of Lindsay Fox, yes, party guest Eddie McGuire has already fled to Europe almost a fortnight before the “Love Boat” celebration to mark the 80th anniversary of the 79-and-three-months-old trucking billionaire.

Wonder if the widely pilloried Collingwood president pushes his return date back as well?

Heading west

Eddie’s not the only one fleeing the Melbourne cold. Billionaires-turned-bankrupts Pankaj and “wifey” Radhika Oswal have left their Crown Melbourne bunker and set off to Perth.

The glamour couple are currently starring in a spectacular $2.5 billion case against ANZ, the bank now run by fellow vegetarian Shayne Elliott. The case is being heard in the Supreme Court of Victoria, which has just gone on a two-week recess.

We understand the couple will spend the fortnight in Perth.

It will be interesting to hear what reception they get from the locals. The pair didn’t exactly endear themselves to their fellow residents when they lived there.

Just ask the meat pie-loving tradies who worked on “Taj on the Swan”, the $70m palace they abandoned in Perth’s Peppermint Grove.

Will they visit its now graffitied concrete shell to perform a special ceremony before the council destroys the eyesore? The Taj is scheduled for imminent demolition.

The Oswals also have a motor yacht in the West Australian capital.

If you spot them cruising on the Swan over the weekend, please write in.

Hostile reception

Staying in Perth, the current address of the highest-profile departure from corporate Australia this week: Rio Tinto’s outgoing iron ore boss, Andrew Harding.

Three months after being overlooked for the top job by chair Jan du Plessis’ board, Harding is off — which gives us a chance to trot out a story from earlier in the year.

The scene: an event at Perth’s Black Swan State Theatre, for which Rio is a principal partner. The cast: a group of five or so, including Harding, talking in a circle.

Enter Harding’s recent sparring partner from the Iron Ore Wars, Fortescue billionaire Andrew Forrest.

We’re told Forrest took the opportunity to explain that his campaign for an iron ore inquiry was not personal. Very politic of Twiggy. Then he added: “I just hate Sam Walsh.”

Walsh was Harding’s predecessor running Rio’s iron ore business in Perth. The arts lover was also the Black Swan chairman before he moved to London. And, as Forrest’s comments underline, Walsh was far from co-operative with the third force of mining.

Twiggy’s not the only Perth-based billionaire Walsh — a milk jug fiend — will have to negotiate when he returns to the west after retiring from Rio’s London base on July 1.

Back in April, Walsh tried to take on his suppliers by paying them less frequently. One of those mining services suppliers was Kerry Stokes, who also owns most of Western Australia’s media. Whoops. Walsh took a battering and retreated from the changes within a week.

Moving out

Staying in the billionaire orbit, team James Packer made the historic move yesterday from their Park Street offices in Sydney to their new digs in ANZ’s outpost on Pitt Street.

The severing was almost as dramatic as the Brits’ decision to decapitate David Cameron with Brexit — or judge Lucy McCallum’s decision to lock up Oliver Curtis for a year in Silverwater Prison for inside trading, forcing wife Roxy Jacenko to brave the nanny market.

The relocation of the Consolidated Press Holdings crew ends the Packer family’s 40 year-plus association with
54 Park Street, where his late father Kerry Packer and grandfather Frank Packer built the family’s multi-billion-dollar media empire.

At least we still have the happy memories — of the famous hampers on Christmas Eve, the gold bullion heist and Kerry’s revolver in the drawer. A simpler age.

Short and sweet

Meanwhile, 92-year-old pokies billionaire Len Ainsworth was along at yesterday’s Liberal fundraiser at Sydney’s Sheraton on the Park to hear Scott Morrison and Mike Baird. Impressively, the Libs packed the lunch and all the speeches into just over an hour. They’re as over it as the rest of us.