South Sydney Rabbitohs worth $46m; Alan Joyce sells in Mosman

Hollwood actor Russell Crowe holds a 25 per cent stake in the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The value of rugby league club the South Sydney Rabbitohs has now topped $45m, with the value of the sporting team having grown more than 10 times since Hollywood movie star Russell Crowe first became a part-owner 17 years ago.

New financial accounts from companies associated with billionaire James Packer, who alongside Crowe has a 25 per cent stake in the Rabbitohs, reveal the businessman has placed a fair value on his quarter stake in the NRL’s Rabbitohs at $11.45m, valuing the entire club at $45.8m.

Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes also bought into the team about a year ago, taking a 25 per cent stake for an undisclosed sum.

The remaining quarter stake of the operation is controlled by the Redfern-based Rabbitohs’ 31,000-plus membership.

Rabbitohs fan Anthony Albanese with part-owner Mike Cannon-Brookes. Picture: Damian Shaw

The valuations have come a long way since Crowe and businessman Peter Holmes a Court (son of the late Robert Holmes a Court and his wife Janet) pitched to privatise the club to secure 75 per cent ownership for $3m. This valued the Bunnies at $4m.

Packer holds his stake in the team via his Scrumpac Pty Ltd vehicle, a subsidiary of his Consolidated Press Holdings. He first bought into the operation in 2014, when he paid $7.5m for Holmes a Court’s 37.5 per cent stake. At that time the club was valued at $20m, less than half its worth today.

Packer and Crowe then in 2016 decided they would forgive a $7m shareholder loan they had provided to the club to secure its financial future.

In a surprise move last November, Cannon-Brookes took one-third ownership of Blackcourt League Investments that had been owned 50-50 by Packer and Crowe and which holds what is now the trio’s 75 per cent stake in the club.

Based on Packer’s latest fair valuation, those respective quarter stakes in the iconic Sydney club are now worth $11.45m each.

It is some turnaround from the oblivion the club faced in the late 1990s and early 2000s as it fought back from exclusion to be readmitted to the NRL and ultimately thrive thanks to its high-profile backers.

Unlikely support

For much of this year the Pharmacy Guild of Australia led by Trent Twomey has been locked in a bitter battle with the Albanese government over its proposed and now implemented changes to the way prescriptions are dispensed in this country.

Twomey literally wept at the prospect of the changes as his guild went to war with Health Minister Mark Butler.

So how odd to see Twomey’s collective issue a statement this week in such support of Employment Minister Tony Burke’s mooted second tranche of IR amendments – his Closing Loopholes Bill – currently before parliament.

Business has been waging a fierce battle against the legislation, but Twomey on Tuesday welcomed Burke’s tweaks refining the bill’s language to ensure there are no unintended consequences.

“We thank (the Minister) for listening to the concerns of employers and acting in the interests of our workforce and our patients,” Twomey said.

That followed the Australian Hotels Association led by Stephen Ferguson being the first to break ranks, saying it had orchestrated a deal with Burke to bring about the changes and that it could now “work with this bill”.

Ferguson had said the government’s initial proposals were “diabolical”.

Burke got two high profile business groups to back him, while the rest of business remained fiercely opposed. How unpopular with their peers the AHA and Pharmacy Guild are now.

The Business Council of Australia, led by new boss Bran Black, and the Minerals Council warned against the ad hoc tweaks.

“No amount of ad hoc changes will fix a flawed bill,” Black said. “If the government wants to stop unintended consequences as stated, they need to scrap the bill and start again with proper consultation.”

BHP said the plan would add to inflationary pressure and undermine international competitiveness.

Margin Call hears at least one of the pair of early adopters might now be regretting their hasty positive stance, which reminded us of the way things worked out for small business lobbyist chief Alexi Boyd, after she was quick to back Burke’s first round of IR changes last year.

That didn’t end so well, with Boyd exiting the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia early in the new year.

Joyce exits Mosman

If cash flow was ever a problem for exited Qantas chief Alan Joyce, it’s no longer likely to be.

Arguably corporate Australia’s most unpopular executive, Joyce and his husband Shane Lloyd have finally settled on the $21m sale of their superfluous to needs home in Mosman.

Alan Joyce and his husband have settled on the sale of their Mosman mansion. Picture: RealEstate.com.au

The couple, who sold in July, never lived in the Musgrave Street house. They purchased it, renovated it and sold it all in a bit over one year.

They paid $19m for it in March 2022.

The home’s new owners are the head of private investment bank Chifley Investment and Lithium Power chair David Hannon and his wife Sonja Holm, of local furniture and homewares retailer Home & Clan.

On the Mosman property merry-go-round they sold their home in the prestige suburb for about $16m in August.