UBS boss Matthew Grounds has skin in the game

Illustration: Rod Clement.

Few have as much of a personal stake in the beleaguered for-profit aged-care sector as UBS Australia head honcho Matthew Grounds.

Grounds, the UBS chairman of investment banking for the Asia-Pacific, is also a major shareholder in the private aged care operator Aurrum Group — one of the extracurricular projects he’s involved in with former UBS banker David Di Pilla (aka “Pepe Le Pew”).

Pepe Le Pew.

The listed aged-care sector was pummelled again yesterday. Investors are increasingly nervous about the operators’ business models following changes in what is paid to them by the federal government.

The Paul Gregersen-chaired Estia Health was down another 12 per cent yesterday. It’s fallen almost 45 per cent in the month.

Analysts are increasingly bearish on the stock. Both CLSA and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have downgraded their outlook.

Interestingly, a rare pocket of sunshine on Estia’s fortune are the analysts employed on the other side of the infamous Chinese Wall at Grounds’ UBS.

The UBS crew last stamped Estia a “buy” with a price target of $6.95. The stock closed yesterday at $2.79.

Unrelatedly, UBS floated Estia for private equity firm Quadrant back in December 2014.

It will be interesting to see what the souring on aged care means for Grounds’ private play Aurrum. There has been speculation in the market that it was building to float, but it’s hard to see that happening in this environment.

Di Pilla — who married into the Salteri family and manages their millions via Olbia Pty Ltd — is at the centre of the business.

Joining Grounds on the share registry are Di Pilla’s parents-in-law and UBS’s chairman of capital markets Robbie Vanderzeil.

The same posse are involved in the Home Investment Consortium company, which Di Pilla used to scoop up 61 former Masters properties from Woolworths for $725 million.

That deal has since become complicated by Woolworths’ ­unhappy joint venture partner Lowe’s. Gordon Cairns’ retailer and the US group will face off in the Federal Court over the deal next week.

Spread far and wide

Staying in the ever-widening circle of Matthew Grounds’ extracurricular business interests — the rock star of Australian investment banking has removed himself from the board of private retail property play Springhill Shopping Centre Pty Ltd.

UBS Australia head honcho Matthew Grounds.

Springhill is the corporate entity that owns a shopping centre in Melbourne’s outer suburb Cranbourne after buying it from Australand for $23m back in 2012. Grounds is no longer a director, but remains a shareholder.

Still, Springhill’s board remains well represented by Grounds’ Australian division of the Swiss investment bank. Members include his investment banking offsider Guy Fowler, his property guru Tim Church, two more of his managing directors Anthony Sweetman and Kelvin Barry and Andrew Stevens, and — last but not least — Revenue and Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer’s husband, UBS banker Jon Mant.

Parliament pudding

The Canberra Parliament House dining world has been upended only a fortnight after Tim Wilson, the ambitious new Liberal member for Goldstein, launched a fatwa on the in-house caterer’s salads.

Liberal member for Goldstein, Tim Wilson. Picture: Kym Smith.

As of January 1, 2017, Parliament’s catering — which covers the Parliamentary canteen, the Queen’s Terrace Cafe, the Members’ Dining Room, the Press Gallery coffee cart and the finger food at various book launches and functions — is going in-house.

That will end the reign of private operator Inter-Continental Hotels Group, which is responsible for the salads that Wilson has denounced as too nineties.

Food and drinks will be taken over by the secretary Rob Stefanic’s Department of Parliamentary Services.

It remains unclear whether Wilson — a man who loves the private sector almost as much as a well-balanced salad — will assist on the new, public sector catering operation.

The change will leave the cafe Aussies as the only private sector operator in the parliamentary kingdom.

One for the Nutters

In a fortnight, federal Liberal Party director Tony Nutt will give his first public address at the National Press Club of Australia.

Federal Liberal Party director Tony Nutt. Picture: Gary Ramage.

On September 22, Nutt will give the “campaign director’s 2016 election review” — a political tradition so well established that Nutt will depart from his otherwise fastidiously low-profile approach to the role.

Labor National Secretary George Wright. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch.

It’s not clear if his outgoing Labor counterpart George Wright will give his.

Wright is off to miner BHP after more than five years as the ALP’s national secretary.

The National Press Club is still to find out if Wright can get the OK from his new boss Andrew Mackenzie. He starts at BHP on October 3.

And while you’ve got your diaries out, we better mention that one of Bill Clinton’s favourite novelists Kinky Friedman is speaking at the Press Club on October 5. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favour and read the Texan’s comic detective debut Greenwich Killing Time — best enjoyed with a tumbler of Jameson.

Posh nosh

It seems Matt Moran’s Chiswick restaurant in monied Woollahra is the place to eat right now in Sydney. Last Tuesday evening it was the venue for Gretel Packer’s 50th birthday. Matriarch Ros Packer, financial adviser Will Vicars and Hollywood’s Cate Blanchett wereall in attendance.

Gretel Packer at her 50th birthday. Picture: Jonathan Ng.

And on Saturday, just before Malcolm Turnbull jetted off to China for the G20, the Prime Minister — who was once an adviser of the late Kerry Packer — was in the same venue in his Wentworth electorate for a pre-Father’s Day lunch with his daughter Daisy and wife Lucy.

Nalder’s return

Wannabe West Australian Premier Dean Nalder was back in cabinet in Perth yesterday after the current Premier Colin Barnett banned him from last week’s meeting. In an occurrence that would be bizarre in every other state government, Nalder was told by Barnett to work from home for a week.

WA Transport Minister Dean Nalder.

That was after Nalder was associated with a poll commissioned by a clique of Barnett-fatigued Perth businessmen, including investment banker John Poynton and leading property developers Nigel Satterley and Greg Poland.

Nalder, the WA Transport Minister, should also be at today’s Liberal Party meeting amid speculation that Barnett may call for a vote on his leadership — in an effort to give some solidity to his leadership. We’ll find out if there’s anything in that soon.

On your bike

You might say mining executive Mike Young has made a career from pushing shit up hill, especially given his effort to lead the Andrew Forrest-backed Vimy Resources through the development of its Mulga Rock uranium deposit at a time of low prices and ongoing opposition from environmentalists.

Vimy Resources chief executive Mike Young.

This week, however, Young is all about tackling hills of a more literal kind.

The former BC Iron managing director is among the amateur cyclists tackling the Haute Route, a 900km cycle ride from Geneva to Venice through the Swiss Alps that kicked off overnight.

The route involves the not insignificant matter of climbing 21,000 metres worth of mountains along the way. The whole ride looks daunting, but tomorrow’s stage between St Moritz and Bormio and Saturday’s climb from Bolzano to Cortina d’Ampezzo both look particularly ugly. Those two stages have earned a difficulty rating of five out of five.