Speculation grows about Fairfax buying remaining MMP from partner

TALK Fairfax is close to buying the other half of Metro Media Publishing, its joint venture with alleged drink-driver Antony Catalano, continues to build among Melbourne’s media and property sets.

Fairfax paid $35 million for half of MMP just before Christmas in 2011 and threw its Victorian Fairfax Community Network into the JV.

Speculation was initially sparked when someone from MMP was overhead skiting about the impending deal in a Porsche dealership as he tried to decide which of the luxury midlifecrisismobiles he would purchase, a la Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood and his Maserati.

Sources by the potted rubber plant thought the loose lips might have belonged to chief operating officer Trent Casson, an equity partner who has been spotted gunning a Porsche out of the MMP carpark. Nope. It turns out Casson was driving his girlfriend’s 10-year-old second-hand Porsche because his own car was up on blocks after a run-in with the garage door.

And it wasn’t Catalano, either. He already has car trouble: the Cat is due to face a drink-driving charge in Dromana Magistrates Court, on the Mornington Peninsula, on January 22 after allegedly blowing 0.08. An earlier charge was thrown out last week.

Fairfax spokesman Brad Hatch declined to comment on any potential deal and Gerald Delany, the chairman of top real estate agency Kay & Burton and an MMP director and shareholder, was Delphic.

“There’s no agreement been reached there,” he said.

Medibank muster

SYDNEY’S dining establishments may have had a bad day yesterday, with most of their investment banking clientele down at the ASX welcoming Medibank Private’s debut on the bourse.

Among the throng were local Macquarie Capital boss Robin Bishop and head of financial institutions Marianne Birch. Waving the Goldman Sachs flag (Gules, a vampire squid rampant) was local chief Simon Rothery, head of equity capital markets Sean Walsh and financial institutions head Craig Murray, while Geoff Tarrant and Hamish Whitehead were there for Deutsche Bank.

The three investment banks managed the mega $5.7 billion float and it’s no surprise they’re keen to remain tight with Medibank.

Also rubbing shoulders with their former Goldman mates were Mike Everett and Rob Penney, who left to form Reunion Capital. Not far away was Lazard’s Andrew Leydon and Peter Halstead. And the little brokers also didn’t pass up the chance for a cupcake and spring roll, with Morgans’ Tim Crommelin and Bell Potter’s Colin Bell there.

Ticky business

TICKY Fullerton, the host of ABC TV’s creatively titled business news show, The Business, appears to have survived the bloodletting engulfing the state-owned broadcaster — even if the show she hosts hasn’t.

The Business, currently a half-hour screening late at night on the main ABC channel, is to be sliced into two 15-minute showlets and shunted to ABC News 24 and business coverage will be consolidated under a national team led from Sydney by former Fairfax hack Ian Verrender.

The ABC insists it’s not a cut, pointing out that radio gets two additional 10-minute business bulletins. Digital is to be beefed up and there’s talk of extra finance coverage on ABC News Breakfast.

Thorney’s AGM brief

SPEED is clearly the order of the day at billionaire Alex Waislitz’s listed investment company, Thorney Opportunities, with yesterday’s debut AGM taking all of 20 minutes. Waislitz opened by urging efficiency, pointing out that the meeting room, at Melbourne law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, was not cheap to hire. What, no discount for having ABL partner Henry Lanzer on the board?

About 25 shareholders present obeyed the edict, firing exactly zero questions at Waislitz, Lanzer and fellow director Ashok Jacob. (Remaining director Gary Weiss was stuck in Sydney.)

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