CBD

Tinkler skips his turn on the track

The Where's Wally of coal, Nathan Tinkler, failed to show up at Bathurst over the weekend, where he was supposed to be putting pedal to metal in a 12-hour endurance race. But plenty of other business types were there to throw millions of dollars worth of automobile around the Mount Panorama track.

Doing very well was Tinkler's fellow Singaporean Mok Weng Sun of Affinity Equity Partners, whose Ferrari 458 came in second - a far better result than AEP's performance as owner of fashion retailer Colorado, which crashed, burned and was sold for scrap last year.

VIP Petfood and Darrell Lea owner Tony Quinn (pictured) had a rough day, missing his drive in a Porsche GT3-R after crashing an Aston Martin in a different event.

But Quinn was still a winner on the day - after roping in a replacement driver his team took second position.

Winner on the day was the Mercedes SLS AMG entered by the Erebus Motorsport team owned by Betty Klimenko.

Disappearing act

WHERE, oh where, has transport consultant Alan Davies' private company gone?

CBD is a huge fan of Davies' work as a blogger on urban planning issues at Eric Beecher's Crikey website, where Davies natters informatively about trains, buses and cars.

However, finding the company at which Davies until recently claimed to be a "principal", Pollard Davies Pty Ltd, has proved harder than hailing a cab after midnight on New Year's Eve.

While researching a possible feature on the business of consulting, CBD searched for Pollard Davies on the database maintained by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The database is supposed to record every company incorporated in Australia but there was no sign of Pollard Davies there.

That doesn't mean the company doesn't exist - the database is sometimes a little flaky. So, before Christmas, CBD asked Davies for Pollard Davies' Australian Company Number, a number that uniquely identifies every company in Australia. "If you don't mind I'd prefer not to be involved," Davies said by email.

Curious, CBD reiterated the request just after Christmas, and again on Monday. So far there has been no answer.

Interestingly, sometime over the Christmas break the claim that Davies was associated with a company called Pollard Davies Pty Ltd disappeared from his profile on Crikey. Also gone is a similar claim to be principal of "Pollard Davies Consulting P/L", contained on his Twitter profile.

Instead, the Crikey site now says Davies is a principal of Pollard Davies Consultants while his Twitter profile puts him similarly situated at something called Pollard Davies Consulting.

Coe's colleagues

IT was a respectful ceremony paying tribute to a friend and colleague, but last week's memorial for late Allco boss David Coe could also have doubled as a meeting of investors in super-controversial Cascade Coal. Cascade is at the centre of ongoing hearings at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption over alleged corruption involving some lucrative coal licences and NSW Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid.

Coe's memorial saw a couple of characters who'd recently graced the commission's stand mingling with a crowd including former prime minister John Howard, Future Fund chairman David Gonksi, actor Russell Crowe and celebrity chef Neil Perry.

Step forward Cascade investors Greg Jones, John Kinghorn and John McGuigan.

Celebrity Apprentice star Mark Bouris, who has not been put under the griller by ICAC but whose finance company Yellow Brick Road allegedly employed a frontman for the Obeid clan, also made an appearance at the memorial.

It would have completed Sydney's circle if Apprentice contestant Roxy Jacenko had shown up - she's the wife of investment banker Oliver Curtis, who is facing time in the big house if convicted on insider trading charges. CBD is so far unable to confirm attendance by any member of the Roxiver household.

Hard times ahead?

STILL on the Curtijenkos. What would happen to the mortgage Macquarie Bank holds over their freshly renovated $6.6 million Woollahra home if Curtis were to be found guilty and sent to jail? Would Roxy and blogging tot Pixie Rose be forced to live in the backyard tee-pee that recently featured in Grazia magazine?

And what about the motor vehicle finance Jacenko's fashion PR business Sweaty Betty took out with Mercedes Benz Financial Services? Jacenko bought a $320,000 Aston Martin in 2010 and it would be awful if she had to give it up.

Got a tip?

bbutler@fairfaxmedia.com.au