Virgin chief Jayne Hrdlicka cements Brisbane move
We didn’t really expect Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka to be slumming it in her relocation from Melbourne to Brisbane to run the international private equity giant Bain Capital- resurrected airline.
And she’s not.
It’s been almost a year since Bain agreed to pay $3.5bn to buy Virgin out of voluntary administration, with Hrdlicka appointed chief executive and a director of the airline on November 17.
And it’s now thanks to paperwork from Tennis Australia that we can actually confirm the controversial airline boss is indeed living in the Sunshine State, in the capital’s Coorparoo, to be more precise.
Not exactly an Ascot or Hamilton, but what Margin Call suspects is akin to the best house in the street.
While Virgin still has Hrdlicka’s residence listed as Melbourne’s Hawthorn, Tennis Australia in recent weeks has revealed its chair’s new executive digs, which come complete with – you guessed it, a tennis court.
One to match the court that Hrdlicka already has at her historic mansion in Hawthorn.
Perhaps when Treasurer and local member for Kooyong Josh Frydenberg is next up north he might stop by for a hit, as he has been known to do in Melbourne.
Along with the court, the executive rental has the obligatory pool, five bedrooms and a separate self-contained pool house, so Frydenberg might even like to stay, perhaps to discuss JobKeeper late into the night.
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Judo’s close contacts
As talk of a Judo Bank IPO ramps up, it’s good to see the challenger bank’s board members are a close bunch.
Not only are former RBA governor John Fraser and Tyro director David Fite boardmates at Judo, but also as of relatively recently, neighbours at Sydney’s oldest apartment complex, The Astor.
And you would have to hope they are on good terms, with Fite wife and fintech investor Danita Lowes currently in the middle of a $1.6m renovation, sure to be adding a little extra noise to the usual Macquarie St serenity.
The couple bought into the heritage-listed apartments, which look over the Botanic Gardens and Opera House, only in September last year, dropping a rumoured $12m for the former home of actress Cate Blanchett and her playwright husband Andrew Upton, and before them Barry Humphries. The apartment is said to be the largest in the block.
Plans passed by Sydney Council in February detail a wide-ranging scope of works for the two-floor apartment, including the demolition of several internal walls and stripping out of the kitchen and timber flooring, all a means to “reconfigure the interior of the apartment to accommodate the specific needs of their family”.
If Fite’s recent share sales are anything to go buy, there could be even more work on the cards though – since mid-May he has sold almost $10m in Tyro shares, cashing in on an average 9 per cent increase in the stock since the start of the year.
Fraser, predecessor to Phil Lowe, is in for a treat.
Lots for them to discuss while swapping cups of sugar, however, as the bank’s non-deal roadshow gets under way this week.
The group is reportedly seeking funds in the realm of $250m, tapping Barrenjoey, Citi, Credit Suisse and Goldmans for the raise.
In recent months there’s been a rejig of management, with co-chief David Hornery moving to the board and leaving executive duties to Joe Healy, while Bruce Billson stepped down from his board post ahead of his elevation to small business ombudsman.
If they can pull off a successful float, we know just the place for their listing celebrations.
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Crown disclosures
We welcomed Neville Owen’s disclosures on relationships at the just beginning Crown royal commission in Perth.
But there is one that he didn’t outline that may be of interest to key watchers of this, the third, RoCo into James Packer’s casino group.
Chairing commissioner Owen told proceedings on Monday of his connection to upcoming witness Maryna Fewster, a director of Crown Perth.
Fewster, noted the former Supreme Court judge, was also chief of Seven West Media WA, a role reporting to none other than local billionaire Kerry Stokes,and whose parent company counts Crown alum John Alexander as director.
“I have a close personal relationship with the chairman to which she reports,” 73-year-old Owen told the court.
No shock there, as Margin Call has previously noted, with Owen serving as a director on Stokes’s investment vehicle Clabon since 2012, alongside David Gonski and Richard Court.
But arguably more important is the relationship that Stokes has with 36 per cent Crown shareholder Packer, who Patricia Bergin’s inquiry into the casino group in NSW has already said was “deeply flawed” as a casino associate.
Packer has made no secret that since the death of his media mogul father Kerry Packer in 2005, Stokes has become something of a father figure to James, who in a few weeks turns 54.
As revealed in Damon Kitney’s compelling biography of Packer, The Price of Fortune, the relationship between Stokes and Packer is “close”, with the Seven executive chair instrumental in the demise of Packer’s betrothal to songstress Mariah Carey amid a deterioration in Packer’s mental health towards the end of 2019.
“My wife, Christine, and I went up to Aspen. We took a fair bit of time out of our schedule. We cared for James. When you are close to somebody, you have to try to help them,” Stokes told Kitney.
At the time, Stokes also unilaterally took charge of Packer’s personal affairs.
“It just needed to be done,” Stokes recalled. “Those around James and those executives, they accepted I did have authority. I made the decisions.”
In this capacity, Stokes rearranged CPH’s internal board of directors and went on to make sure Packer’s wedding to Carey didn’t happen.
“I did postpone his wedding,” Stokes said.
All interesting context for Stokes’s associate Owen’s consideration at the commission of Packer’s status as Crown’s biggest shareholder.
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Mixed fortunes
It has been hard to miss former WA treasurer Ben Wyatt’s move into corporate Australia – and it seems he isn’t the only one of his team sharing in the spoils of life post-politics.
Recall Wyatt picked up a board seat at Richard Goyder’s Woodside, and is soon to be installed on the board of Rio Tinto, a key piece of the miner’s bid for reformation under new chief Jakob Stausholm.
That is on top of board seats at the West Coast Eagles, and the Julie Bishop-chaired Telethon Kids Institute – all of which have only come since his retirement as treasurer at the state’s March election.
Appointments are slower to come by for his former chief of staff and consulting partner at their Wyatt Martin venture, Roger Martin.
On Tuesday Martin, who also for a time ran communications for Woodside, was revealed as the latest director at $146m minnow Province Resources.
Shares in the explorer turned hydrogen developer got a boost earlier this year after Andrew Forrest and his Fortescue put in applications for a tenement nearby, but so far that’s the closest it has come to any heavy hitters.
Martin’s appointment sent shares up 7 per cent, but he’ll have to pull out plenty more tricks if he’s to catch his partner.
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