Tinkler’s PR lives to fight another day

IT’s a bit of an ongoing gag in business circles that PR man Tim Allerton never gets paid by his on-again off-again client, Singaporean boganaire Nathan Tinkler. The former billionaire’s financial woes have been well documented — he’s racked up a creditor list that includes Gerry Harvey, the Newcastle Knights and the ATO.

But it seems Allerton lost patience in late October and trotted down to the NSW Supreme Court to lodge a windup application against Tinkler Group over unpaid fees to his company, City Public Relations.

Sadly for fight fans Tinkler paid Allerton and the case was withdrawn yesterday. When contacted Allerton didn’t divulge the amount and said he’d even consider doing work for Tinkler again in the future.

Maybe ask for cash upfront next time?

Deep in the trough

PACKER corner is now the Seven bend at Sydney’s Machiavelli following a redecoration of the storeyed nosebaggery by media buyer Harold Mitchell.

Joining him for lunch yesterday were Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes — under his own picture — son Ryan, Sam Chisholm and former Seven CEO David Leckie.

There was no sign of current Seven boss Tim Worner but keeping his seat warm at the Stokes table was Hamish McLennan, the chief executive of in-play broadcaster Ten.

Sky Business host Janine Perrett has written menu notes describing Mitchell’s overhaul of the restaurant’s famous celebrity gallery.

“He’s got a couple of women,” she said. “I wrote in what he told me, which is that there’s not enough women in media because the people on these walls won’t let them.”

She said the packed gathering yesterday was “a testament to Harold”, adding: “There were fewer people at the G20, I reckon.’’

A profiting future

IT’LL be trebles all around for the owners of aged-care outfit Estia if its ASX float gets away as planned early next month.

The owners, led by private equiteers Quadrant, are selling up to half their existing stakes into the IPO for $300 million.

On the back of Margin Call’s envelope that translates to as much as $172.5m for Quadrant’s 57.5 per cent stake — a fraction less than the $175m it stumped up to buy in last year. Provided Estia’s stock performs, it could sell the rest of its stake by this time next year. Ka-ching!

Founder Peter Arvanitis, who has almost 26 per cent of Estia, stands to reap $77.7m while manager Mercury Capital (14.1 per cent) will get up to $42.3m. Director of strategy and development Nick Yannopoulos could see as much as $4.8m. Not bad for a bloke who only a few years ago was a suburban real estate agent, running the RT Edgar office in Melbourne’s Albert Park.

Just a chat

EYEBROWS have been raised after Dexus Property Group chief executive officer Darren Steinberg was spotted having a latte with GPT Group’s chief investment officer Carmel Hourigan, who is viewed as a future CEO at GPT.

The tete-a-tete follows reports the two groups held merger talks two years ago that fell apart over concerns on both sides that key talent could walk as a result of a deal.

Margin Call understands that there was nothing unusual about the chat and Steinberg isn’t trying to actively woo Hourigan over as his second-in-charge.

Apparently, Steinberg and Hourigan regularly meet to discuss Property Council of Australia issues — the former is president and the latter vice-president.

Undercover Uber

MORE woes for Uber, with senior vice-president Emil Michael apologising after being sprung by Buzzfeed suggesting the company should spend a Dr Evil-style $1 million to hire a dirt unit to dig up muck on journalists who criticise it.

“We have not, do not and will not investigate journalists,” Uber spokeswoman Katie Curran said. “Those remarks have no basis in the reality of our approach.”

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