A week might be a long time in politics, but Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev had to stretch back 25 years to find a Labor leader he could love: Paul Keating.
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A quarter of a century has passed since Keating made the courageous decision to sell Australia's biggest bank to the public, paving the way for its momentous debut on the ASX 25 years ago on Monday.
"There was a lot of opposition to it," said Narev before ringing the bell to mark the anniversary of the float. "And we had the government at the time say 'Look I'm not going to be concerned about what the opinion polls are saying ... I'm going to do what is right economically for the country'."
Needless to say Malcolm Turnbull did not attend the bell ringing to continue the desperate spray against the banks he delivered at Westpac's 199th anniversary celebrations last year.
The celebration was a day late, as Narev was travelling on bank business. It was just as well given Monday coincided with the worst day on the sharemarket since Brexit, and sent the bank's shares to their lowest intraday level in three years.
Not that the delay spared Narev's blushes. The stock renewed its descent following Tuesday's ceremony to close below $70 for the first time since July 2013.
On the plus side, the stock is still up something like 90 per cent since Narev took over in December 2011.
And as his shy and retiring chairman, David Turner, pointed out in the official press release, if an investor kept the minimum parcel of shares they could buy in 1991 – which was worth $2160 – it would now be worth around $148,000, including reinvested dividends and franking credits.
Discharged
A former business associate of Jeff Kennett, Paul Gerard Choiselat, has been found unfit to stand trial on charges of market manipulation and disclosing false information.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a County Court of Victoria judgment found there was a prima facie case against Choiselat, but judge John Carmody made an order to release him from the charges "on the condition that he resign, effective immediately, from all statutory offices of companies registered or operating in Australia and that he not take up or apply for any such position with a company registered or operating in Australia for a period of three years".
ASIC reported Choiselat was found to be unfit to stand trial based on the criteria set out in the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness To Be Tried) Act 1997, but did not provide further information.
The charges relate to two companies Choiselat headed: Q Ltd and Jumbuck Entertainment. Kennett spent time on the boards of both companies.
Most of the charges related to disclosures by Choiselat relating to his positions as a shareholder and executive at the two companies from 2003 to 2009.
ASIC's investigations began following the collapse of Opes Prime Stockbroking in 2008.
Choiselat's private company Beconwood Securities sued ANZ over $7 million of shares the bank sold after Opes collapsed. This included some of his shares in Jumbuck.
It led to the loss of Choiselat's job as managing director. He resigned from the board just before an attempt to remove him as a director in 2008, despite claiming in a letter to shareholders beforehand to have the backing of his peers, including the former Victorian premier: "Independent non-executive directors, our chairman, Kevin Campbell, AM, the Hon Jeffrey Kennett, AC, and Bruce Bennie have stated that they 'consider it of considerable value to the future growth of Jumbuck that Paul Choiselat continue as an independent director'."
Jeff's into Beer
Jeff Kennett no longer has any links with Choiselat, but he is still involved with the ever-changing Jumbuck.
Jumbuck, which was spun off from Q Ltd as a mobile chat and dating service provider more than a decade ago, started a new life as a "online knowledge and referral community" in 2014 called Primary Opinion.
Kennett stepped down from the board in November last year, just months before it dumped the knowledge business and reinvented itself as a foodie – agreeing to acquire 48 per cent of Maggie Beer's business.
"Maggie Beer as a name is an Australian icon," Kennett told Fairfax Media in May when the announcement was made. "To me this is very, very exciting ... We will leverage up from here."
When he said "we" will leverage up, he was talking about the company – not himself. Kennett did not participate in the July capital raising to fund the purchase and his stake has been diluted from 7.65 per cent to 2.4 per cent.
No snow
CBD is pleased to report that somebody from Yellow Brick Road managed to return our misdirected inquiry about who will attend the Whistler conference later this week.
Vow Financial boss, Tim Brown, told CBD the big boss, Mark Bouris, will have to settle for whistling at work.
"With the recent restructure of the business Mark decided some time ago that his time is better off spent in Sydney running the various parts of the national group and therefore he will not be attending the conference in person," said Brown.
He also assured CBD it will not cost long suffering YBR shareholders a cent.
He said the conference attracts strong sponsorship which ensures "the annual conference is, at worst, cost neutral to the company".
Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au
