Suburban bliss for Packer and pals; Bubs investor war games board battle

’70s hitmakers Skyhooks – Bongo Starkie, Red Symons, Shirley Strachan, Greg Macainsh and Freddy Strauks.

It might be sleepy, middle class Melbourne suburbia, but it’s a case of Balwyn Calling the name of Aussie billionaire and citizen of the world James Packer.

Back in 1974 Skyhooks, fronted by the now late Shirley Strachan, might have thought all on offer in the leafy suburb 10km from the city was “the Balywn blues’ and “a brick veneer ­prison”.

But it seems the expatriate businessman and his wealthy pals reckon there are dollars to be made in Melbourne’s east, with a consortium of investors formed for a deal in the suburb that includes Packer and his old colleague from Crown Resorts days, Todd Nisbet.

The group has agreed to buy a near 4000 sqm site in the suburb that was a former retirement village. They plan to develop it into a multimillion-dollar residential community.

The sale appears to have been quietly conducted off-market in recent weeks, but is yet to settle. The purchase price is so far not known to Margin Call.

Also in on the ground floor of the deal with Packer is Melbourne-based real estate investment company Gersh Invest­ment Partners, led by executive chair Joe Gersh.

Gersh has recently finished his term as a director on the board of the ABC, and now seems fully occupied by his day job.

Gersh, Packer and Nisbet are also partners in another large-scale property project we have been telling you about, an affordable housing development in the Geelong suburb of Corio called Edenville Corio, which is currently awaiting planning approval from local authorities.

The vehicle created for the latest venture is NPG Maleela Pty Ltd.

Packer and Nisbet own 85 per cent of NPG Maleela and Gersh vehicle Gersh Como Pty Ltd has the other 15 per cent.

Todd Nisbet and James Packer back in their Crown Resorts days. Picture: David Caird.

Packer and Nisbet have their stake via another new company, NPACT Maleela Investments Pty Ltd, with Packer ultimately the majority investor on his side of the deal with Nisbet.

It’s all a far cry from the heady days when Packer owned an international casino empire and before that a politically and socially influential media empire built up by his late father Kerry Packer.

The deal to buy the Balwyn property has been struck with retirement village provider Aveo Group, which is owned by Canadian investment giant Brookfield Asset Management.

The Georgian-style retirement home at 23 Maleela Ave, Balwyn was known as Balwyn Manor, but has permanently closed.

The leafy suburb of Balwyn is bordered by Kew, Canterbury and Mont Albert.

The development project is on the site of the former mansion Larino. From the late 1930s the Australian Jewish Welfare Society used the home to accommodate Jewish children migrating from Germany and Austria, including survivors of the Holocaust. Many older Melburnians will remember the facility as Frances Barkman House.

The newest project to be developed on the site is still in its conceptual phase. It is to be carried out by experienced Melbourne property developer Chapter Group, founded by Dean Lefkos.

The group has already begun creating the corporate structure that will oversee the development, led by CG Maleela Ave Pty Ltd, with Lefkos and Cameron Lynch as directors.

Packer is showing a new passion for such projects. Along with Corio and now Balywn, he also has a stake in an unfolding development in Sydney’s Potts Point.

Bubs tantrum

C2 Capital boss Steven Lin has flown from his base in Colorado to Melbourne as the battle for his infant formula minnow Bubs rages.

C2, a private equity firm backed by Chinese e-commerce and retail titan Alibaba, owns 10 per cent of Bubs and Lin is at the centre of an ugly fight with founder Kristy Carr, who he and other directors sacked as Bubs’s chief executive last month.

Carr has accused Lin of being a bully – a claim the company rejects – in Federal Court documents. She is leading a group of dissident shareholders in a bid to oust the current board, including Lin.

Bubs’ ousted chief executive, Kristy Carr. Picture: Getty Images

But like all warriors, Lin knows it’s no use going into battle on an empty stomach. One of his first stops in Melbourne was dinner earlier this week at the Flower Drum to war game with Bubs chair Katrina Rathie and a team led by investment banker and corporate Adviser David Williams.

The team has made some moves since then, with Rathie on Friday axing the company’s plan to make infant formula in China for the Chinese market, which was a key plank of her predecessor Dennis (no relation to Steven) Lin’s strategy.

At the dinner, Margin Call hears, the lazy Susan got a good workout and the wine list was also closely studied. And it seems to be paying off, we hear, with the majority of proxy votes so far swinging Rathie and Steven Lin’s way.

Show of faith

Australian culinary national treasure Maggie Beer rolled up her sleeves, donned her apron and waded into the market for shares in her eponymous fine food group this week in a much needed show of support for the ailing enterprise.

Shares in Maggie Beer Holdings have been in decline for the past 16 months, tumbling from 61c in February last year to 12c at the end of this week thanks to the underperformance of its gifts and hamper business.

While the celebrity cook remains a director of the company, Beer is now a mere minority shareholder with less than 3 per cent.

TV cook and culinary queen Maggie Beer. Picture: Dragan

But as company founder and figurehead her actions can be powerful.

In a strong show of faith, Beer forked out $26,700 for another helping of 200,000 Maggie Beer Holdings shares at 13.35c each, taking her stake to 9.3 million shares.

It’s a token step towards averaging down.

Beer’s previous 9.1 million share parcel at last year’s peak was worth $5.5m, but on Friday was down to just over $1m.

Even her newest shares are already in the red.