Alan Bond (businessman)

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Alan Bond (born 22 April 1938) is an Australian businessman famous for a high-profile business ventures . Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his parents and sister Geraldine in 1950. Beginning his career as a signwriter he formed what was to be Bond Corporation in 1959. He became a public hero in his adopted country after bankrolling challenges for the yachting trophy the America's Cup, which resulted in his selection as Australian of the Year in 1978. He finally won the trophy (which had been held by the USA since 1851) in 1983.

The Perth-based Bond made his fortune initially in property development and at one time was one of Australia's most prominent businesspeople. In 1970 he acquired three America's Cup bid yachts from Sir Frank Packer. He later extended his business interests into other fields including brewing (he controlled Castlemaine Tooheys and G. Heileman Brewing Company in La Crosse, Wisconsin), gold mining and television. Australia's first private university, Bond University, bears his name.

He purchased QTQ-9, Brisbane and settled an outstanding defamation dispute the station had with the Queensland premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen by paying out AUD$400,000. He said in a television interview several years later that he paid because "Sir Joh left no doubt that if we were going to continue to do business successfully in Queensland then he expected the matter to be resolved".

In 1987, Bond purchased Vincent Van Gogh's renowned painting, Irises,<ref>image of Irises</ref> for $54 million — at the time a world record for a single painting. The purchase was however funded by a substantial loan from the auctioneer (Sotheby's) which Bond subsequently refused to repay and the painting was re-sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 1990. In 1987 he also paid $1 billion for the Australia-wide Nine television network from Kerry Packer's PBL before selling it back to PBL in 1990 for $250 million in the midst of his business empire collapsing. Packer was quoted as saying "An Alan Bond only happens to you once".

In 1995 Bond and his family bought him out of bankruptcy, using about $12 million they held in offshore trusts to reach an arrangement with creditors who were owed $1.8 billion, a payout of a little over half a cent on the dollar.

Since 2004, interests related to the Bond family have held (non-voting<ref>Byelaws of Madagascar Oil</ref>) shares in Madagascar Oil (which he cofounded with Sam Malin and Robert Nelson). Interests related to the Bond family also hold shares in Lesotho Diamond Corporation (Kao Diamonds).

[edit] References

Paul Barry, The Rise And Fall Of Alan Bond, Bantam Books, 1991 ISBN 1-86359-037-4
Alan Bond and Rob Mundle, Bond, HarperCollinsPublishers Pty Limited, 2004 ISBN 0-7322-7494-X
Official Website, [1]