CBD

Former NSW premier, Nick Greiner, has a collection of boardroom seats that would rival the surfboard collection of Billabong founder, Gordon Merchant.

So you can imagine our intrigue when Greiner resigned as chairman of Infrastructure NSW in May this year. His three-year term with the state's peak infrastructure adviser was due to end in June next year.

On Monday he turned up as chairman of the newly formed infrastructure debt fund, Rearden Capital, saying it was working towards becoming "Australia's leading fund manager of infrastructure debt".

Subtle hints of his role transition were evident in October this year, when Greiner told the NSW Mining conference it made no sense for the Australian Rail Track Corporation to remain in public hands.

"It has absolutely no business being owned by the government of Australia, and the taxpayers of Australia, no point at all," he said.

He also outed himself as a big fan of the O'Farrell government's proposed 99-year lease of the Port of Newcastle.

"I think it may actually be a bit of an opportunity to get a professional infrastructure owner, or a consortium of owners ... involved," he said.

Is it just me, or might that require a little bit of debt funding.

Rearden sounds like a much cushier gig than chairmanship of mining services company, Bradken, which is slashing staff as the resources gloom hits the services sector.

Then there's the hassle of the Federal Court decision which found in April that Bradken had engaged in bid rigging. Bradken is appealing.

Senex spurned

"We can walk and chew gum at the same time," said a defiant Senex boss Ian Davies after his merger bid with AWE fell over at the starting line.

It might be his ardour for AWE that is in question after Senex quit its bid 32 minutes after the proposed nuptials were spurned by AWE.

Investors made their feelings pretty clear on the fiasco sending AWE shares sharply higher while Senex tanked.

"We recognise the potential to add value," said AWE chief Bruce Clement. "While we remain confident in what we are doing as a company, we will consider offers."

Browne revs up

With his deputy duties at Nine Entertainment done and dusted - and the brawling that ended his chairmanship of Free TV Australia now a distant memory - Jeffrey Browne has rejoined the board of carsales.com after a 2-year hiatus.

Brownie left when Nine sold its 49.1 per cent stake in the car sales site in April 2011 as the debt-laden media group struggled to keep its head above water.

It was a costly sacrifice. The carsales shares Nine sold for $4.92 each, were recently trading north of $11.

And before you ask, no. Brownie resigned without a single carsales share to his name.

Developer in court

The unlucky streak continues for Melbourne nightclub czar and property developer, Jerry Pilarinos, who is now facing bankruptcy at the hands of the tax man.

The Deputy Commissioner for Taxation and Pilarinos go before the Federal Court this morning over the matter. It comes nearly five months after BankWest put the company behind one of his CBD pubs, the Palace, into receivership over a $10.85 million loan.

The original Palace, in St Kilda, went up in flames in an unsolved daylight arson.

Pilarinos has his fair share of experience on the other side of problem debts. He lent $500,000 to troubled technology company Computronics Holdings, and another $4 million to "pathological gambler" Harry Kakavas.

Kakavas unsuccessfully sued Crown over $20 million of gambling losses.

In June, the High Court found Crown Casino was not responsible for Kakavas' financial woes .

Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au