Gary Weiss, Paul Weightman and Leon Blitz. Illustration: John ShakespeareCredit:
In less than a fortnight, Singaporean funds giant ARA Asset Management will again try to force high-profile Sydney investor Gary Weiss onto the board of Cromwell Property Group, the local real estate outfit in which it is the largest shareholder.
This unpleasant feud was started after Cromwell’s then chairman Geoff Levy and chief executive Paul Weightman decided not to let ARA to replace its old board representative David Blight. ARA boss John Lim, on the other hand, has accused the company of fattening Weightman's salary package while handing over less money to investors.
In November, Weiss’ appointment to the board was narrowly voted down at Cromwell's annual general meeting. Not that Weiss has been left idle. He’s an Australian Rugby League commissioner, a director at theme park operator Ardent Leisure, and he runs investment firm Ariadne Limited.
So ARA, through house lawyers Arnold Bloch Leibler, are preparing to hold an extraordinary general meeting at the end of the month — coronavirus permitting — to try again. And they're not taking any chances.
Documents filed in the Supreme Court late last week as part of new ARA legal action show the Singaporeans have concerns Levy, err, may have massaged the votes at the last meeting. Hey, it worked for Zanu-PF...
(Levy, for the record, has retired for unrelated and was replaced by private equity operator Leon Blitz.)
Affidavits obtained by this column show ABL partner Scott Phillips went to inspect voting ballots from the November meeting in January, and claims things were a little … askew. Specifically, some voting forms which appeared to be filled out as they should have been were deemed invalid while others, seriously deficient, were counted in the vote. Whether they supported Levy’s world-view appeared to be one separating factor.
“One proxy form ... was not signed at all and was not listed [as invalid],” his affidavit reads.
Another investor, who owned 166,000 shares, submitted two forms on the same day — one voting for Weiss and the other voting against. Only the former was considered invalid.
SOCIALLY SPEAKING
Now for some good news. Kinda. The Australian Club, that exclusive domain which doubles as a social club for the city’s male political and business elite, is back in the black. As regular readers would know, the Australian Club has an extensive membership stretching from ex-PMs John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull to Liberal lobbyist Michael Photios and some of Sydney’s best-known fundies and lawyers.
And while women are allowed entry, they must be accompanied by a man. Saudi Arabia-style. (The club did consider relaxing this rule last year to boost membership and, presumably membership fees. No change as yet.)
Now financial statements lodged with the corporate regulator on Monday, signed off by club president David Maloney (who also moonlights as a governor of wealthy eastern suburbs school Ascham) show the institution made a $1.4 million profit in the year to December 31.
Mightn’t sound like a great deal, but it’s significantly better than 2018’s woeful $765,000 loss. But how could this be, considering membership fees remained at roughly $3.5 million and the club wrote down the value of its business centre? Nothing like a sudden $2.7 million upward revaluation of its investment portfolio for the year.
And this year will be a cracker. The documents show just over $1.6 million is being splashed out to install a new boozer — the Donaldson Bar — on level 2.
NO CONTEST
Here we were thinking a sailing regatta was the ultimate social distancing-compliant activity. Not so.
Kirribilli’s Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron has called time on the Farr 40 National Championships and the prestigious John Calvert-Jones trophy due to start on Friday. CBD was told Calvert-Jones, the celebrated yachtsman who happens to be News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch’s brother-in-law, told Farr 40 organisers last week he wouldn’t be making the trip from Melbourne to present the trophy.
The race has historically attracted crews led by Blackmores’ founder Marcus Blackmore, Transfield Holdings managing director Guido Belgiorno-Nettis and Mosman tech millionaire Gordon Ketelbey. Officials made the call to shelve the regatta over the weekend, despite some interstate teams being en-route to Sydney.
PHONING IT IN
Federal Labor MPs held a caucus meeting — by phone — on Tuesday as the party began to make preparations for who would turn up in Parliament House next week. Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers and health spokesman Chris Bowen provided an update, while Anthony Albanese joined in late after speaking to Prime Minister Scott Morrison. No word yet on who the MPs chosen to make the trip will be after the government decided to cap the numbers attending sitting week. So far speculation appears to exclude older parliamentarians and those from Western Australia.