CBD
So three men walk into a bar - John Singleton, Geoff Dixon and Mark Carnegie - and after a beer, decide they like it, so they buy it. No, it's not a joke, it's just the way the three "amigos" seem to do business when it comes to pubs. The latest deal is the $4.6 million purchase of the Como Hotel in Como (aka the Shire). It will be added to the trio's associate the Riversdale Group, which includes Paddington rugby and racing haunt the Bellevue.
Riversdale CEO Paddy Coughlan said Singo was heavily involved in due diligence on the pub. "He rang [rugby league legend] Ron Massey and asked him to go have a beer in there. Thankfully Ron gave it the thumbs up. Geoff Dixon was also strongly in favour of the purchase due to the obvious operational upside and the $9.5 million replacement cost on the land and buildings. Mark Carnegie just asked who Ron Massey was and what or where is the Shire"
Fiji land for sale
It's been 34 long years, but Boris Ganke is still trying to find a buyer for a slice of tropical heaven.
Ganke, a wily veteran businessman who this week executed some snappy manoeuvres to remain at the helm of Southern Cross Exploration (SXX), controls 17 hectares of beachfront property in Fiji together with business partner Evelyn Goh.
The land is at Nadi Bay, where the only sounds are the gentle lapping of water and the discreet roar of jets taking off and landing at the airport, the main runway of which runs beside the block.
SXX's shareholders would like to call in a $7 million loan to the Fijian company through which Ganke and Goh control the property, Nadi Bay Beach Corporation (NBBC).
But what chance would they have of making a dollar out of the land when Ganke has been trying to flog it off, bit by bit, since 1978?
In November that year NBBC placed an ad (pictured) in Sydney's Sun-Herald, offering "Beachfront estate villa sites" on the "sun-drenched tropical shores of Nadi Bay", starting from $16,900.
Research by Fairfax Media's library team shows NBBC used the classified columns of The Sydney Morning Herald to make much the same offer twice more the following month and once more in March 1979. The ads give the same Elizabeth Street, Sydney, address as that enjoyed by SXX and another Ganke company, Chapmans.
Chapmans' latest set of accounts, issued in August last year, show it loaned "less than $150,000 . . . over 30 years ago" to NBBC, but the interest owing on the loan has blown out to $512,000 and directors have written off the loan "as they cannot be fully satisfied of the recoverability at present".
Surely not. After all, NBBC in its 1979 ads offered "investment in Fiji which, if you've been there you will know is a sound and increasingly popular idea" promising "high investment return potential".
Ganke told CBD 46 quarter-acre lots had been sold, with the latest fetching $F750,000 (about $410,000) 18 months ago.
"We've had three or four political coups in Fiji but the market in Fiji is currently particularly buoyant and we're confident we'll make a return in due course," he said.
Let's hope so.
Caving in to age
Balding ex-punk Nick Cave has cracked the sads at attracting an affluent and ageing audience that includes the likes of the Premier, Barry O'Farrell.
This week the middle-aged crooner and his band, the Bad Seeds, played two shows at that anti-establishment icon, the Sydney Opera House, and the Premier and his retinue of bureaucrats were among the legions of suits absorbing the third-hand Seaview Ballroom vibes on Tuesday.
Come Wednesday's show, easy-listening star Cave did a double-take after looking down at the front row of the crowd and noticing that they were a generation younger than Tuesday's mob. "Last night was like singing to a crowd of Leonard Cohen fans," Nick the Stripper jeered.
Dixon junior woes
While pubs seem to be going well for Geoff Dixon, his son Ben's digital media company has hit financial strife.
Dixon snr is on the board of his son's Facilitate Digital Holdings, which on Thursday used its half-year financial statement to reveal it is depending on a pending $535,000 R&D tax refund to remain a going concern.
Let's hope the federal government doesn't do any more fiddling with the R&D incentive - it has already announced it will restrict the scheme to small companies.
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bbutler@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
The trio purchased the Como Hotel (known as the Shire) for $4.6 million. The property will be added to their Riversdale Group hospitality portfolio, which already includes venues such as the Bellevue.
Riversdale Group’s CEO Paddy Coughlan oversaw the deal process, with John Singleton heavily involved in due diligence (including getting a thumbs-up from Ron Massey) and Geoff Dixon supporting the purchase for its operational upside and replacement-cost economics.
Geoff Dixon pointed to a $9.5 million replacement cost on the land and buildings to underline the asset’s underlying value and potential upside; in other words, the cost to replace the property is considerably higher than the $4.6 million purchase price, which helped justify the acquisition.
Boris Ganke, with partner Evelyn Goh, controls 17 hectares of beachfront at Nadi Bay. He has been marketing the land for decades, claiming 46 quarter‑acre lots were sold (the latest for F$750,000 about 18 months ago), while shareholders of Southern Cross Exploration (SXX) are seeking to call in a $7 million loan to the Fijian vehicle Nadi Bay Beach Corporation (NBBC).
Records show Chapmans made a loan of less than $150,000 to NBBC over 30 years ago; interest has grown to about $512,000 and the directors have written the loan off because they cannot be satisfied of its recoverability, highlighting long‑standing credit and recoverability concerns tied to the project.
The article flags several risks: the lengthy, intermittent sales history for the Nadi Bay land, significant outstanding and written‑off loan balances, and political volatility in Fiji (Ganke himself referenced three or four coups), all of which can affect liquidity and the timing of any investor returns.
Facilitate Digital Holdings revealed it is relying on a pending $535,000 R&D tax refund to remain a going concern. That dependence signals short‑term funding vulnerability, which is a red flag for investors monitoring the company’s financial stability.
The article notes the federal government has announced it will restrict the R&D scheme to small companies. For businesses depending on R&D tax refunds—like Facilitate Digital—such policy tightening could reduce or delay expected refunds and increase financial pressure on companies that rely on that cash flow.
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