YOU know a corporate spat is getting far too personal when Mick Gatto and John Khoury get called in to sort matters out, but that's exactly what's happened after business partners Richard Rubin and Gavan Stewart had a falling out.
Rubins, who until August was a director of listed Alpha Technologies Corporation, has gone to the Supreme Court to get his hands back on a $390,000 Bentley Continental that was towed away last week from Boutique Motors in South Melbourne.
Boutique is a luxury car company jointly controlled by Rubin and Stewart.
Stewart founded and operated one of Victoria's more successful freight and logistics operations, and in July 2007 sold one of his companies, Victorian Express, to Toll Holdings.
He has since embarked on a series of ventures, including his business dealings with Rubin, which have turned sour. In total, Stewart's company Efulfillment.com has four separate court actions against Rubin in progress, claiming about $6 million he says he is owed.
That doesn't include monies owed to Efulfillment by Alpha Technologies, which is now in administration.
Alpha blew up amid a boardroom war last year, after it bought two businesses, ATA Manufacturing and ATA Distribution, from Rubin's Panache group.
Rubin has quite a history. In South Africa more than 20 years ago Rubin developed the in-built hair dryers that feature in hotels around the world.
A man who has led quite a life, and reportedly was a self-made millionaire by 21, bought his first Rolls-Royce at 22, a private plane at 25, and had his first heart bypass surgery at the age of 31.
After being declared insolvent in South Africa in 1992, he moved to Australia. He left behind debts at the time totalling $10 million and his lavish Cape Town mansion was seized by a South African bank.
That didn't stop his rebirth in Melbourne, where he has a become a well-known business figure. As part of the ATA purchase, Alpha also signed a $3 million, 15-month consultancy agreement with Rubin and Panache.
The Bentley was owned by Boutique, but driven by Rubin, who has a penchant for flash vehicles.
The Supreme Court has been told that Gatto turned up at Boutique in his own expensive car, a Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG, about 4 o'clock on the afternoon of November 4, and his mate John Khoury arrived with a tow truck, to take possession of the Bentley.
The pair usually work under the company banner Arbitrations and Mediations.
Stewart engaged the services of State Securities, run by their good mate Tom Karas, to collect debts he claims are owed by his former business partner.
When Gatto and Khoury turned up to repossess his car, Rubin called the police.
Khoury, a licensed debt collector, produced the relevant documents showing money was owed on the car, so the local constabulary allowed the vehicle to be towed away.
''We were there purely to try and mediate a problem,'' Khoury said. ''We got a tip-off the car was at a car yard in South Melbourne, and we had all our paperwork in order. Mick had nothing to do with it.''
Gatto said he just happened to be in the area at the time and had nothing to do with the car being repossessed. ''I arrived after it all happened,'' Gatto said. ''Not sure who's got the car, maybe if you ring John, he'll know. I just happened to be in the area at the time, and when the police asked me to move on, I did.''
The Supreme Court ordered that the car be returned to Rubin with seven days. When the court was told the car is missing, and believed to be in Queensland, the court ordered that $260,000 be paid against its value.
Asked where the Bentley now was, both Khoury and Gatto said: ''No idea.''
Tiger tanks for JBW
JBWERE may have pulled off one of the marketing coups of the year in sponsoring the Australian Masters, but its old master Goldman Sachs JBWere won't benefit from the Tiger Woods publicity.
The company is dropping the ''JBWere'' part of its name after the sale of the private wealth division to National Australia Bank, but a decision on a new name will have to be approved by the company's head office on Wall Street.
In total, six suggestions have been sent to the board on New York for approval, but the company is being secretive about what the Australian outpost will be called.
Life was also tough last week, amid all the requests for golf tickets.
While JBWere had a beautiful marquee, paid for by NAB, on the 18th green, GSJBW had a smaller tent around the corner - for overseas guests only, we hear.