Oatley family empire carve-up starts with vineyards
The carve-up of Robert Oatley’s estate has begun, with his son Sandy Oatley taking control of the family’s sprawling winemaking operations, new accounts filed with the corporate regulator show.
The family are the heirs to the fortune of the late Bob Oatley, who died in 2016. Bob Oatley made his first fortune selling Papua New Guinea’s coffee and cocoa beans internationally. He later pocketed almost $1.5 billion selling wine giant Rosemount to Southcorp in 2001.
Bob’s children – Sandy, Ian and Rosalind – are all directors of the family office, Balmoral Australia, formally Balmoral Pastoral Investments. In filings with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission this week, Balmoral said it had sold its entire holding in Robert Oatley Vineyards to an entity called AGO Trusco.
Sandy, his wife Carol and his daughter, Nicole, are directors of AGO. The latter two are the company’s only shareholders.
Sandy Oatley with his daughter Nicole earlier this year.
In March, Robert Oatley Vineyards was renamed A. G. Oatley Wines, the filing said. The business has emotional significance, as it marked Bob Oatley’s re-entry into the industry after selling Rosemount to Southcorp, which became Treasury Wine Estates in 2001. Southcorp later wrote down the $1.49 billion investment in Rosemount by $1 billion.
The filings showed that during the 12 months to the end of June 2022, the family office reported a net loss of $11.6 million, compared to an $88 million net profit the year before. It had consolidated revenue of $377.7 million for that financial year, compared to $359 million the year before.
Balmoral’s main asset is Hamilton Island, which is owned through a subsidiary known as 21st Century Resorts Holdings. That business paid a $35 million fully franked dividend in September last year.
The Australian Financial Review in September revealed the family is attempting to sell Hamilton Island and has hired UBS to review options for the prized tourism asset. The family first bought the island for about $200 million. It is expected to be sold for around $1 billion.
Balmoral employs more than 1560, the accounts show. The company discovered it had underpaid staff between 2015 and 2022, and was forced to repay $18 million. “The remediation process is ongoing,” Balmoral said in the report. The entity paid slightly more income tax, and higher employee costs.
Agents caution that the sale of Hamilton, if it goes ahead, could take at least another year. Interest is expected to be limited to a small pool of buyers, with private equity and sovereign funds tipped as the most likely given the price of the asset.
“This is like buying a city,” one agent familiar with island sales said.
Aside from Hamilton Island, Balmoral has other assets in its portfolio, including shares in listed and private companies as well as Woolwich Dock in Sydney, where the family’s Wild Oats yacht is berthed.
Along with the three Oatley siblings, the family office’s board includes ex-Virgin Australia chief John Borghetti, former Deutsche Bank chief executive John Macfarlane, and wealthy businessman Guido Belgiorno-Nettis.
The Oatley family declined to comment.
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