Waterhouse runs own race as William Hill sale proceeds

Illustration: Rod Clement

A decision is imminent on the future of British wagering giant William Hill’s Australian operations and its current boss Tom Waterhouse.

Margin Call understands that the 35-year-old Waterhouse — son of racing royalty Gai and Robbie Waterhouse — has secured his eponymous website, tomwaterhouse.com. That’s created considerable industry speculation about the Harvard summer school student’s next move.

Waterhouse is unlikely to hang around at the business long after it is sold to the two remaining bidders: the soon-to-be Barni Evans-led Sportsbet (the local operation of Irish bookmaking giant Paddy Power) or the Matt Tripp-led CrownBet (as of this week backed by the Toronto-listed The Stars Group).

Well-informed market chatter indicates the asking price has crept north of $240 million, so neither Sportsbet or CrownBet are going to let Waterhouse leave without a considerable period of gardening leave.

The successful bidder will be keen to keep Waterhouse out of action, as they try to win over the high-profile bookmaker’s impressive black book of VIP ­clients.

“Mr Real Estate” John McGrath, for example, has gambled hundreds of millions of dollars through his William Hill account. As the owner of The Teddy Bear Shop would attest, customer’s don’t get much better than the 54-year-old McGrath.

Under Waterhouse’s leadership, William Hill earned a reputation in the local industry as the place for high-rolling clients to gamble on credit.

But last month that business model was put down — like a vet attending a distressed, mangled racehorse — by new Turnbull government legislation that bans gambling companies from giving their customers credit.

There was a carve-out, though, for trackside bookies who are allowed to take bets on credit worth up to $30 million a year. Sounds like a way for Waterhouse (a licensed bookmaker) to earn some pocket money before his next venture.

Pizza paradox

Exactly why the evangelical boss of listed pizza shop Domino’s Don Meij sold one of Brisbane’s most sought-after properties less than two years after he paid $8.6m for it has been a much-discussed subject among the expansive community of investors shorting his company.

The mortgage recently taken out on the property has also caught the attention of the more than 16 per cent of the Domino’s registry with a short position.

So why did Meij — whose Jack Cowin-backed company’s stock has fallen almost 30 per cent in the last year and who, as the Fin Review this week revealed, has five margin lending facilities — suddenly sell his six-bedroom, six-bathroom trophy home?

The house Don Meij sold

“Mr Meij recently received an unsolicited offer for his Sutherland Street home, which prompted his decision to sell,” a Domino’s spokesman told Margin Call.

The property records are yet to declare it, but the talk among Brisbane agents is that Meij agreed to sell the place for about $11 million. Even after tax, that’s a handy profit.

Property records show Meij bought another, slightly-less-shiny, five-bedroom Brisbane trophy home, 800m away. The price is still to emerge on the paperwork (which shows it transferred to Meij on February 21), but it’s said to have traded for a touch over $7m.

Apparently Meij’s recent mortgage on the original trophy home was a bridging loan to finance the new buy before his circa $11m cheque arrives. It’s not exactly typical high net worth behaviour. But then there’s plenty that isn’t typical about Meij. Who else dreams of drone delivered “Butter Chicken” pizza?

Leaders at lunch

Almost 1000 of prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Jacinda Ardern’s nearest and dearest gathered for an intimate lunch yesterday at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.

Always an entrepreneurial character, Turnbull attempted to recruit New Zealand’s deputy PM and Foreign Minister Winston Peters to do some tunnelling work on the federal government’s “Snowy 2.0” hydro project.

Turns out that in the 1960s, the younger Peters did some tunnelling work on “Snowy 1.0”.

“Prime Minister (Adern), you might have to give (Peters) a little leave. Perhaps he could come over on weekends and do a bit of tunnelling?” Turnbull asked.

Adern answered no, she would not authorise the pinching of Peters “for your tunnelling needs”. It was worth a shot.

In an apparent attempt at cultural sensitivity by the Australian hosts, the lights in the cavernous room were almost entirely dimmed. A tip for future events: while the flightless Kiwi bird is nocturnal, people from NZ aren’t. Turn the lights on next time.

Among those squinting in the darkness was our Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who escorted Peters, NAB’s boss Andrew Thorburn (a dual Australian-New Zealand citizen, that special breed), his likely successor Mike Baird (popular as ever among the business set), Lucy Turnbull who enjoyed the company of Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon, the PM’s head mandarin Martin Parkinson (spotted over the summer on a NZ driving holiday with his mandarin wife Heather Smith), the BCA double act Jennifer Westacott and Grant King (both recent guests of President Donald Trump’s Washington court), DFAT boss Frances Adamson (who has recently rattled some of the leadership teams of our international student-dependent universities) alongside Treasury’s worldly boss John Fraser, Ardent Leisure’s Kiwi-born, lead guitar-playing chairman Gary Weiss (whose brother Johnny Weiss founded the Trans-Tasman Business Circle) and Kerry Stokes’s trusted adviser Warwick Smith (who this week retired as ANZ’s NSW managing director ambassador but continues to help Shayne Elliott out on Middle Kingdom matters). And who was that next to Jobs for NSW chairman David Thodey? A silver blazered, expressive Michaelia Cash. Great to see the Minister emerge from her Canberra whiteboard.

Australian Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash enjoys a joke at the PMs’ lunch