BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TO TEMORA
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
September 18, 2006
This town’s the perfect spot for plane speaking, Kate Askew discovers.
THE Riverina town of Temora had never seen a gathering like it.
Standing in the sunshine at the Temora aerodrome on Saturday were
the country’s richest fellows, Frank Lowy and James Packer, talking
intently to Fairfax chairman Ron Walker. Lowy got a hug from his
close pal, the PM, who was also having a day out.
Thankfully Lowy’s eldest son, David, has thrown enough cash at Temora’s
World War II training aerodrome to ensure there was enough space for
all the private planes to park.
Recently departed Nine head honcho Sam Chisholm was out enjoying his
retirement and the opening of the new runway, which is capable of
landing a Boeing 747.
And Temora’s mayor, Nigel Judd, put in his two bobs’ worth, encouraging
the wealthy throng to buy up some land in town, or better still,
build a shopping mall.
Close call
It makes absolute sense. As the dynamic duo, they have been through
airports around the world, looked at a few ports and muddled over
telecoms.
The next piece of infrastructure on the list of two of Macquarie
Bank’s most loftily remunerated executives would obviously be an
industry mouthpiece of their own making, CBD figured.
Moss-in-waiting Nicholas Moore and his sidekick, Michael Carapiet,
are directors of the disconcertingly named Australian Financial
Publications.
CBD was relieved to hear the Mordialloc-born Moore and the
Calcutta-born Carapiet set up the company to own a slice of Peter
Charlton’s event management business cum magazine publisher, First
Charlton Communications.
Closer call
Even more disconcerting is Michael Carapiet’s other vehicle.
It’s called SMH Investments.
In a fit of paranoia CBD thought that having cast an eye over Telstra,
the voracious Macquarie bankers were casting an eye over the mastheads
of John Fairfax.
There’s a more prosaic explanation. SMH stands for Shahen, Michael
and Henry, the company’s three directors: Shahen Mekertichian, who at
one point had some involvement with Macquarie rival Babcock & Brown,
Australian-Armenian businessman Henry Hacobian, who has sponsored
the Armenian Sydney Dance Company, and Michael Carapiet himself.
Life begins at 55
So much networking, so little time. Being closer to 40 than 30,
your diarist was pleased to learn – as were many others in town –
that the secretive Young Presidents Organisation had come to a radical
juncture in its evolution.
Gentlemen approaching a certain age – 50, that is (though always
known as 49-ers because they were eternally afraid of turning five-o)
– will no longer have to graduate to the WPO, Well-Padded Oldies,
oops, World Presidents Organisation.
Now there will be a bunch of YPO-ers who, for another five years,
can avoid getting the dreaded farewell present – a rocking chair.
Sadly, such youthful and prominent entrepreneurs as Jack Cowin and
Marcus Blackmore won’t make the cut.
They’ll be WPO-ers for life.
Enjoying the nags
Stockmarket warriors turned horse flesh fanciers were out in droves
at the weekend.
Kingsgate Consolidated’s Ross Smyth-Kirk was on hand down at Kembla
on Saturday to see his five-year-old gelding Flavoursome have its
first start and come up trumps.
Later in the day Smyth-Kirk migrated to Rosehill, where another
corporate type indulging in the nags was stockbroker John Bowie-Wilson,
whose Rocking On couldn’t manage a place.
Smyth-Kirk will be hoping his luck holds for the election of the
Australian Jockey Club committee he’s standing for.
Last-minute letdown
Tim King walked up hill and down dale to be fit for this year’s
annual walkathon.
But when it came time for the Deutsche Bank head of research to don
his runners the flu had taken hold and he had to drop out of the team
of Doug Farrell, Matthew Prior and Jamess Forrest, which had raised
over $60,000, more than any of its competitors.
The Oxfam Trailwalker fundraiser, by the way, is the mad hike through
the night which usually results in bloodied toes, hallucinations and
vows from participants never to do it again – but which helps feed
people who simply can’t afford to eat.
And with competition for the flashest auto a driving feature of
Planet Investment Bank, it’s a wonder competition of other forms
doesn’t take hold in the same fashion.
The cheque from Switzerland must be in the post for the Slightly Warm
Turkey team from UBS which pledged $25,000 plus but has yet to crack
the $2000 mark.
Knowing how generous UBS usually is, CBD notes it is yet to match
the raisings from other finance outfits like Allco and one of its big
clients, Telstra, whose Holgate’s Heroes raised a whopping $34,000-odd.
State Street also deserves a mention for sponsoring the Trailwalker
year in, year out and giving sporty types the chance to stub their
toes on their midnight ramble – not to forget giving other people
the opportunity to eat.
Oh, that loss
Your diarist was terribly remiss in not finding Quickflix’s full-year
loss of a whopping $2.6 million buried in a bunch of dot points in
a press release.
Quickflix, if anyone missed it, is the latest stockmarket interest
of Lachlan Murdoch.
Just so you can get a feel for Quickflix’s exceedingly happy
perspective on its loss-making result, here’s an excerpt from its
press release:
"Quickflix today announced that it had increased revenue by 134.5
per cent and stabilised costs for the 2005-06 financial year while
establishing a platform for continued growth and enhanced services
over the coming years.
"The leading independent provider of online movie rental services
also announced that its total paying subscribers will this month
exceed the 10,000 milestone."
"Quickflix chief executive officer Stephen Langsford said that over
the past year the company had consolidated its position as the second
largest online movie rental subscription service in Australia."
Again, in case anyone missed it, the leading independent provider of
online movie rental services reported a full-year loss of $2.6 million.
Two new babies
And before handing the reins back to your regular diarist, Michael
Evans, let’s finish a tale begun last week …
After racing off from the Silliac dinner at Sydney University where
he was keeping company with legendary academic Harry Messell, Lee
Ming Tee, aka Gleaming Teeth, welcomed a granddaughter to the Lee
dynasty on Wednesday.
We can only assume that his driver that night, Albert Wong, was racing
home to put the finishing touches on what we hear is the prospectus
for his latest stockmarket plaything, Pluton, which joins a stable
of past and present companies including resources stock Zelos.
Kate Askew has a tiny stake in John Fairfax Holdings.
This town’s the perfect spot for plane speaking, Kate Askew discovers.
THE Riverina town of Temora had never seen a gathering like it.
Standing in the sunshine at the Temora aerodrome on Saturday were
the country’s richest fellows, Frank Lowy and James Packer, talking
intently to Fairfax chairman Ron Walker. Lowy got a hug from his
close pal, the PM, who was also having a day out.
Thankfully Lowy’s eldest son, David, has thrown enough cash at Temora’s
World War II training aerodrome to ensure there was enough space for
all the private planes to park.
Recently departed Nine head honcho Sam Chisholm was out enjoying his
retirement and the opening of the new runway, which is capable of
landing a Boeing 747.
And Temora’s mayor, Nigel Judd, put in his two bobs’ worth, encouraging
the wealthy throng to buy up some land in town, or better still,
build a shopping mall.
Close call
It makes absolute sense. As the dynamic duo, they have been through
airports around the world, looked at a few ports and muddled over
telecoms.
The next piece of infrastructure on the list of two of Macquarie
Bank’s most loftily remunerated executives would obviously be an
industry mouthpiece of their own making, CBD figured.
Moss-in-waiting Nicholas Moore and his sidekick, Michael Carapiet,
are directors of the disconcertingly named Australian Financial
Publications.
CBD was relieved to hear the Mordialloc-born Moore and the
Calcutta-born Carapiet set up the company to own a slice of Peter
Charlton’s event management business cum magazine publisher, First
Charlton Communications.
Closer call
Even more disconcerting is Michael Carapiet’s other vehicle.
It’s called SMH Investments.
In a fit of paranoia CBD thought that having cast an eye over Telstra,
the voracious Macquarie bankers were casting an eye over the mastheads
of John Fairfax.
There’s a more prosaic explanation. SMH stands for Shahen, Michael
and Henry, the company’s three directors: Shahen Mekertichian, who at
one point had some involvement with Macquarie rival Babcock & Brown,
Australian-Armenian businessman Henry Hacobian, who has sponsored
the Armenian Sydney Dance Company, and Michael Carapiet himself.
Life begins at 55
So much networking, so little time. Being closer to 40 than 30,
your diarist was pleased to learn – as were many others in town –
that the secretive Young Presidents Organisation had come to a radical
juncture in its evolution.
Gentlemen approaching a certain age – 50, that is (though always
known as 49-ers because they were eternally afraid of turning five-o)
– will no longer have to graduate to the WPO, Well-Padded Oldies,
oops, World Presidents Organisation.
Now there will be a bunch of YPO-ers who, for another five years,
can avoid getting the dreaded farewell present – a rocking chair.
Sadly, such youthful and prominent entrepreneurs as Jack Cowin and
Marcus Blackmore won’t make the cut.
They’ll be WPO-ers for life.
Enjoying the nags
Stockmarket warriors turned horse flesh fanciers were out in droves
at the weekend.
Kingsgate Consolidated’s Ross Smyth-Kirk was on hand down at Kembla
on Saturday to see his five-year-old gelding Flavoursome have its
first start and come up trumps.
Later in the day Smyth-Kirk migrated to Rosehill, where another
corporate type indulging in the nags was stockbroker John Bowie-Wilson,
whose Rocking On couldn’t manage a place.
Smyth-Kirk will be hoping his luck holds for the election of the
Australian Jockey Club committee he’s standing for.
Last-minute letdown
Tim King walked up hill and down dale to be fit for this year’s
annual walkathon.
But when it came time for the Deutsche Bank head of research to don
his runners the flu had taken hold and he had to drop out of the team
of Doug Farrell, Matthew Prior and Jamess Forrest, which had raised
over $60,000, more than any of its competitors.
The Oxfam Trailwalker fundraiser, by the way, is the mad hike through
the night which usually results in bloodied toes, hallucinations and
vows from participants never to do it again – but which helps feed
people who simply can’t afford to eat.
And with competition for the flashest auto a driving feature of
Planet Investment Bank, it’s a wonder competition of other forms
doesn’t take hold in the same fashion.
The cheque from Switzerland must be in the post for the Slightly Warm
Turkey team from UBS which pledged $25,000 plus but has yet to crack
the $2000 mark.
Knowing how generous UBS usually is, CBD notes it is yet to match
the raisings from other finance outfits like Allco and one of its big
clients, Telstra, whose Holgate’s Heroes raised a whopping $34,000-odd.
State Street also deserves a mention for sponsoring the Trailwalker
year in, year out and giving sporty types the chance to stub their
toes on their midnight ramble – not to forget giving other people
the opportunity to eat.
Oh, that loss
Your diarist was terribly remiss in not finding Quickflix’s full-year
loss of a whopping $2.6 million buried in a bunch of dot points in
a press release.
Quickflix, if anyone missed it, is the latest stockmarket interest
of Lachlan Murdoch.
Just so you can get a feel for Quickflix’s exceedingly happy
perspective on its loss-making result, here’s an excerpt from its
press release:
"Quickflix today announced that it had increased revenue by 134.5
per cent and stabilised costs for the 2005-06 financial year while
establishing a platform for continued growth and enhanced services
over the coming years.
"The leading independent provider of online movie rental services
also announced that its total paying subscribers will this month
exceed the 10,000 milestone."
"Quickflix chief executive officer Stephen Langsford said that over
the past year the company had consolidated its position as the second
largest online movie rental subscription service in Australia."
Again, in case anyone missed it, the leading independent provider of
online movie rental services reported a full-year loss of $2.6 million.
Two new babies
And before handing the reins back to your regular diarist, Michael
Evans, let’s finish a tale begun last week …
After racing off from the Silliac dinner at Sydney University where
he was keeping company with legendary academic Harry Messell, Lee
Ming Tee, aka Gleaming Teeth, welcomed a granddaughter to the Lee
dynasty on Wednesday.
We can only assume that his driver that night, Albert Wong, was racing
home to put the finishing touches on what we hear is the prospectus
for his latest stockmarket plaything, Pluton, which joins a stable
of past and present companies including resources stock Zelos.
Kate Askew has a tiny stake in John Fairfax Holdings.