Tigerair sharpens its claws as global carrier

Tigerair chief Rob Sharp looks to be clawing out an international footprint for the low-cost carrier.

The airline boss was busy making new friends at Auckland airport yesterday, with the no-frills carrier now increasingly ambitious under the full ownership of Virgin Australia.

The fiercely independent Sharp, who is now in total control of Tiger’s international rights, was believed to be chatting to the Kiwis about the possibility of Tiger plying the trans-Tasman route with landing rights at the airport.

That might come as something of a surprise to Virgin’s 23 per cent shareholder Air New Zealand, but we are sure it would be thrilled to welcome its cheap and cheerful distant corporate cousin to the land of the long white cloud.

Sharp’s NZ talks will set the scene for a juicy Virgin board meeting next week, believed to be the last for outgoing chair Neil Chatfield. The aggressive move will leave plenty for new Virgin chair Elizabeth Bryan to deal with when she parachutes into the boardroom, sitting across from the likes of Air NZ boss Chris Luxon.

Gone troppo

James Packer’s fix-it-man Guy Jalland has traded chilly Melbourne for the sunshine of the Caribbean.

After Packer spent more time in Los Angeles than Sydney last year, Jalland decided to move to the island of Antigua to be closer to his boss.

But the move to the tropics hasn’t all been plain sailing. In March there was a near riot at Holy Trinity Primary School on Antigua’s sister island, Barbuda, as locals met to mull over a controversial $US250 million ($312m) development by Packer and his good buddy Robert De Niro. They want to build a casino, a five-star boutique hotel, a “high-end eco-lodge”, a superyacht marina and a VIP airport on a bird sanctuary.

Jalland and De Niro’s rep Mary Beth Medley sat in silence on the stage at the meeting as locals traded verbal and physical blows before Barbuda Council member Fabian Jones was arrested for disorderly conduct.

But the plan got through, meaning Jalland will have plenty to keep him busy between cocktails.

Naked numbers

Melbourne strip club Bar 20, run by listed outfit Planet Platinum, is said to employ some fearsome bouncers but on yesterday’s experience none could be harder to get past than the company’s voluntary administrator.

Last week Gideon Rathner, of Lowe Lippman, got the gig of sorting out PP, which is also the landlord of Melbourne sin bin Daily Planet.

Boss John Trimble appointed Rathner rather than wait until the end of the month for a court hearing where the corporate plod, ASIC, wants PP wound up. ASIC reckons PP has “acted without regard to the rights, entitlements or interests of shareholders”.

Heavy. But yesterday, despite the public interest in the listed company’s affairs, Rathner booted Margin Call before the meeting even began.

Adding to the farce, two shareholders who turned up also suffered from premature evacuation after a creditor objected to them sitting up the back of the room.

Apparently an observer from ASIC was generously allowed to stay.

Rathner didn’t return repeated requests seeking an explanation of his tight door policy.

Sail away Ray

Japan Post’s generous $6.5 billion takeover of Toll Holdings was apparently not enough to drag chairman Ray Horsburgh back from his holidays.

Shareholders who gathered in Melbourne yesterday to vote on the deal had to make do with a pre-recorded video from Horsburgh, with down-table director Nicola Wakefield taking control of proceedings in the former Essendon Football Club president’s absence.

Horsburgh apparently booked a boat trip before the takeover was announced in February and couldn’t see his way clear to change arrangements to be at yesterday’s meeting — proving that logistics management can be such a tricky business.

Among those who did turn up were heavy-hitting dealmakers that included Gresham’s David Feetham, who acted for Japan Post, and Lazard’s John Wylie, who was in Toll’s corner.

Nowhere to be seen, however, was rich lister and current Essendon el presidente Paul Little, who was Toll boss for 26 years up to 2011.

Little, now a property developer, is still Toll’s biggest individual shareholder and will bank a cheque for about $338m when investors get their dosh at the end of the month.

Cormann crossed off

As Joe Hockey leaned into the budget limelight on Tuesday, his 2IC, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann was again suffering at the hands of the Senate crossbench.

The government abandoned a bid to sneak legislation abolishing the well-regarded corporations and markets advisory committee through the Senate rather than have it voted down, a la Cormann’s bid to abolish FoFA protections last year.

A ministerial reshuffle just before Christmas handpassed responsibility for killing CAMAC to Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who won’t concede defeat. “The government will be having more discussions with senators on the bill prior to it being brought on for debate,” a spokesman said.

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