Clive Palmer offloads Brisbane headquarters
Embattled businessman Clive Palmer has pulled off an unlikely rescue by selling his corporate headquarters to a consortium including two major Australian property companies — Charter Hall Group and Investa Property Group.
Palmer began shopping around his Brisbane city headquarters, the Mineralogy House building, last September as he faced a legal barrage over the collapse of Queensland Nickel.
The Australian revealed that Palmer was trying to sell his corporate empire’s head office and it later attracted interest as part of a $50 million parcel of four buildings that includes two assets being sold by US private equity giant Blackstone.
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Domestic property group GPT last year had conditional deals in place to buy the buildings but its interest fell away, partly due to the dilapidated state of the tower.
Instead, local funds managers Charter Hall and Investa will buy the parcel of buildings, with Mr Palmer likely to receive a price of about $15 million.
A Charter Hall-managed fund and Investa Commercial Property Fund will develop an office skyscraper on the site.
Queensland Nickel’s liquidators threatened to press for the arrest of Palmer last month when the former MP claimed he was too sick to front court.
Court documents also revealed that Palmer — while using the morphine painkiller he claims harms his memory and judgment — orchestrated a complex corporate manoeuvre to try and obtain $135 million from his collapsed QN, issued high-level legal advice, and tweeted about “a certain confectionary business”.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
