By Scott Rochfort
Former NSW premier Neville Wran and his business chum Albert Wong will have another stab at becoming the fourth force in iron ore today when they complete the back-door listing of Winmar Resources.
''I look forward to you joining or remaining with us as a shareholder and sharing this new journey in what we believe to be an exciting and prosperous future for the company and its shareholders,'' spruiked chairman Wong in the group's prospectus, giving his best Andrew ''Twiggy'' Forrest impression. Wran is a non-executive director.
Back-door listing ... Neville Wran and Albert Wong float Winmar Resources.Credit: John Shakespeare
The $7 million raising will go towards funding the purchase of a 51 per cent stake in an iron ore project named after the St Kilda AFL legend Nicky Winmar, which is located 50 kilometres from Rio Tinto's giant Tom Price iron ore mine.
No doubt Wong will be keen to highlight the many traits he shares with the Fortescue founder, with whom he used to run the broking firm Intersuisse during the late 1980s. The Winmar project is south of Fortescue Metal's Solomon deposit. ''We're right next to Solomon so that doesn't hurt us,'' Wong told CBD, noting he even managed to get some support from Forrest himself.
''I sent him a prospectus and I said, 'For old times' sake, come and support an old mate,'' Wong said. ''He actually had a look at it and quite liked it.''
Among other investors in Winmar's raising are the Turnbull family and the Atlas Iron director David Hannon.
The stake in the Winmar tenement was purchased from Cazaly Resources (named after St Kilda football great Roy Cazaly) last year.
The St Kilda football fan and Cazaly managing director, Nathan McMahon, is also a Winmar director.
Wong and Wran's last stab at becoming the fourth force in iron ore was through the listing of the Kimberley-focused Pluton Resources in 2006. They left the Pluton board after a disagreement with the company's managing director, Tony Schoer, and his father Ray.
DIGGING IN
Wong and Wran will be part of another bid this week to become a major force in the Brazilian iron ore sector in another back-door listing. Wong's old firm Barton Capital Holdings, which has since been renamed RIM Capital and has reinvited him back to the board, will rename itself Cabral Resources this week. The company recently completed a $25 million raising to purchase a Brazilian iron ore explorer. Wong and his 84-year-old business chum Wran show no sign of taking it easy. The two will visit Mongolia next month to suss out more opportunities.
CHURCH ON TIME
Senator Bill Heffernan was as accommodating as a Jetstar check-in during a Senate inquiry into aviation safety in Canberra on Friday.
Apart from joking that Qantas's Paddy boss, Alan Joyce, was ''an old Irish bomb maker'', Heffernan took a slight exception to Jetstar's boss, Bruce Buchanan, being stretched for time. Heffernan had decided that the inquiry would skip a morning tea break so that it would have enough time to grill the airline bosses.
Joyce reminded the senator that, even though he ran an airline, the Jetstar boss would have to leave that morning to catch a connecting flight to get to his sister's wedding.
To which Heffernan replied: ''We hear all sorts of excuses [but] that is a good one.''
Joyce added that his right-hand man at the budget airline would send Heffernan his wedding pictures.
GOING FOR A RIDE
Virgin Group's Swiss-based head of aviation and chief Richard Branson lieutenant David Baxby will save some fuel burn between Adelaide and Melbourne next month.
Baxby and his brother Matt Baxby, who heads Virgin Money in Australia, have again signed up for the annual Tour de Kids (www.tourdekids.org.au) bike ride, which raises money for the Starlight Foundation charity. The seven-stage event starts on March 27.
Among the other entrants in the 1150-kilometre ride are the former UBSers and now Fort Street Advisers Richard Hunt and Joel Denney, Thorney Investment Group's Peter Landos, Alukea Commodities chief executive David Cobcroft, the UBS bond traders Michael Hendrie and Andrew Clark, and the former Colonial First State chief executive Warwick Negus.
The best-known rider in the peloton will be the University of NSW operative and Olympic cycling gold medallist Stephen Wooldridge. Fund manager Tom Hardwick will be riding for Team Guardian Childcare Alliance-Ottomin. The event has raised $3.9 million since its first tour in 2000.
The self-confessed cycling nut and Grocon general manager Bevan Towning, who will also take part, said the tour was far from a fun ride. ''The ethos of the ride is that it has to be physically challenging,'' he said.
The ride, which hopes to raise more than $500,000 this year, will also include women for the first time. And already it appears the men are being outdone on at least one front. After only signing up for the event this month, Visa operative Carla Schulz - who will be riding in Team Virgin - has already collected about $10,000 in donations.
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