TPG in $766m buyout bid for Billabong. Private equity firm TPG Capital has launched a fresh takeover bid for surfwear manufacturer and retailer Billabong, after the company rejected a similar overture last week. Billabong said in a statement to the ASX that it received a proposal from the buyout company at $3 a share. It comes after the $766 million offer TPG made to the board last week.
TPG’s local boss is Harvard-educated Ben Gray, who we included on our Money Movers power list last year as a contender to watch. He’s also the son of a Tasmanian premier and one of the mid-90s Melbourne University power set currently dominating the world of investment banking. — The Power Index (read the full story here)
Greens hire Bolt’s QC nemesis for privilege case. A key lawyer at the centre of the Andrew Bolt race discrimination case has been hired by Greens leaders Bob Brown and Christine Milne to lead their defence during an investigation of their relationship with benefactor Graeme Wood.
According to a report in The Australian Financial Review, the Greens have secured the services of prominent human rights lawyer Ron Merkel QC over claims of improper conduct. Merkel represented nine Aboriginal people in their successful action which found News Ltd columnist Andrew Bolt guilty of racial discrimination last year. — Tom Cowie (read the full story here)
Fortunes to change as rich list makes way for Rinehart. The Power Index’s sister publication SmartCompany is celebrating its fifth birthday this week. With this in mind, editor James Thomson has dusted off the crystal ball to ask the big question: what will the rich list look like in five years’ time?
Five years is a long time in the world of the wealthy. In the last five years, we’ve seen Gina Rinehart’s fortune rise from a lowly $4 billion to a staggering $20 billion, just as we’ve seen James Packer fall more than $7 billion to around $4 billion. — James Thomson (read the full story here)
Big Four CEO knows it’s kill or be killed. Deloitte Australia CEO Giam Swiegers should be given an award for telling it like it is: “The word ‘execute’ has two meanings in Deloitte: you execute or you’re executed.”
Swiegers made the comment in today’s Australian Financial Review regarding how Deloitte has managed to avoid the voluntary redundancy programs, pay cuts and back office offshoring measures that have recently been undertaken by other accounting firms including KPMG, PwC and Ernst & Young. — The Power Index (read the full story here)
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