Southern Cross chairman Heith Mackay-Cruise has already seen off a gaggle of Kerry Stokes′ most senior Seven executives after the companies merged earlier this year. Now the Southern Cross regime is considering the sale of the Perth billionaire’s beloved former publishing assets.
In recent weeks, the Southern Cross leadership team has held internal discussions over how a possible sale of its publishing assets, which include The West Australian newspaper and The Nightly, could take shape, according to a source familiar with the discussions. But the company has yet to hold talks with possible suitors, said the source, who was not authorised to speak publicly.
The discussions kicked off before the company announced the appointment of former NRMA, Foxtel and Seven executive Rohan Lund as its new chief executive on Friday, and do not represent the beginning of a formal sale process.
Still, the discussions emerge as the clearest sign yet that the new Southern Cross-Seven regime doesn’t have much affection for its publishing division, which for decades was seen as a love of Stokes, the company’s former billionaire controlling shareholder.
Southern Cross, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
The former Seven publishing assets could be just the latest part of Stokes’ former media empire to be shown the door following Southern Cross’ $417 million merger with the media company after it was completed earlier this year.
Mackay-Cruise has already overseen the exile of Stokes’ Seven chief executive Jeff Howard, who was dumped in late February, just three days after Stokes himself stepped off the Southern Cross board. Then went Seven’s chief operating officer Trent Dickeson and TV head Angus Ross.
But it looks like the Southern Cross regime isn’t done clearing house. The question that follows is: Who would be interested in buying Southern Cross’ West Australian publishing assets?
The Seven publishing division, which is overseen by Maryna Fewster, has been the subject of acquisition gossip for the better part of this year. Just last week, this masthead surfaced chatter from media and sporting circles, where it looks like News Corp would have support should it launch a bid for Southern Cross’ West Australian publishing assets. News Corp said it had no current plans to buy The West.
There is also the question of whether Southern Cross shareholders would support such a move.
Mackay-Cruise has so far maintained decent backing from major shareholders over the past year. Along with Stokes, Southern Cross’ biggest shareholders include Spheria Asset Management and Samuel Terry Asset Management.
But could that dynamic be about to change? Earlier this month, the longtime Stokes family lieutenant Bruce McWilliam scooped up about $14 million worth of Southern Cross shares as part of a move that gave him a stake of more than 5 per cent in the company. Should McWilliam continue to build his position in Southern Cross, his voice could become an increasingly influential one on matters like these.
Who knows, maybe it won’t be long before we hear it.
Adrian Portelli’s private jet defies oil market volatility
The US-Israeli war on Iran may have set off a scramble by governments around the world to shore up fuel supplies after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and triggered a wave of oil supply disruptions around the world.
But one person whose private jet has not been grounded by the volatility is Melbourne billionaire Adrian “Lambo guy” Portelli, who is worth $1.41 billion, according to The Australian Financial Review’s Rich List.
The self-made billionaire’s Bombardier Global 6000 private jet has been used some 19 times since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February, mostly to scoot around Australia.
When reached by CBD on Monday, Portelli said he charters the jet out “so all those 19 trips weren’t by me personally”.
According to Flight Radar, Portelli’s private jet flew from Melbourne to Wagga Wagga on March 6, before stopping into Brisbane and back to Melbourne the same day. A couple of days later, it was off to Singapore before returning to Canberra on March 9. The following day, the jet returned to Melbourne.
Later that month, on March 13, Portelli’s jet flew Melbourne to Sydney before flying Sydney to Auckland and back to Melbourne a few days later. Then there was a trip to the Sunshine Coast, then to Perth and back to Melbourne, where his jet was idle for about a week before heading off to Honolulu, for just one day, according to flight tracking data.
Earlier this month, Portelli’s jet flew Melbourne to Port Hedland, from where it set off to Dubai for just a day before heading back on April 17.
The last time Portelli was in the news was just the following week, when this masthead reported on the opening of his new venture, “LMCT+” , selling fuel for $1 a litre at a petrol station in Preston, in Melbourne’s north-east.
Also back in the news, as our colleague dutifully noted at the time, were questions about how the entrepreneur’s LMCT+ membership-based shopping discount and giveaway business actually works, and whether it is an unlicensed lottery as critics and a South Australian regulator have claimed.
Perhaps there’s also a market for a creative entrepreneur to start offering jet fuel for $1 a litre.
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John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.