Our guests on this episode are Charbel Hazzouri & Anthony El-Hazouri, Founders of RevelopAU. 

Revelop is an independent, private-owned property development firm which specialises in the development, acquisition and ownership of assets across the commercial, residential and retail real estate sectors. 

Launched in two-thousand-and-eight, the company has established a substantial portfolio of over fifty properties spread throughout New South Wales, Victoria & South Australia, comprising over a thousand tenants and some 250,000sqm in gross lettable area. 

With a future development portfolio in excess of over $1b in value, Revelop has become one of the Country's most active property groups, having outlaid significant capital this year for opportunities in both New South Wales & South Australia.

https://www.revelop.com.au/

https://www.commercialready.com.au/

Charbel Hazzouri & Anthony El-Hazouri - RevelopAU

It's a privilege to welcome to our series, special guest Michael Gutman OBE - Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Assembly Funds Management and one of Australia's most experienced property specialists. 

Launched in 2019 in a partnership between Michael Gutman, the Lowy Family Group and Alceon, Assembly is a funds management platform targeting strong risk adjusted returns across the Australasian real estate sector with an opportunistic and flexible mandate to invest in assets across market cycles. 

To-date it's inaugural fund, The Australian Diversified Property Fund 1 (ADPF) has secured over $285m of equity commitments for a portfolio of logistics, residential, mixed-use, large format retail & alternative assets with a target net IRR of 10-12% - the business has currently invested in twelve opportunities taking the fund to 70% drawn. 

Prior to founding Assembly, Michael spent close to twenty-five years with Westfield, rising to Global President and Chief Operating Officer leading globally significant projects in Australia, the UK and the US including Westfield Fountain Gate and Doncaster, Westfield Century City and Valley Fair and Westfield London & Westfield Stratford City to name a few. 

Under his tenure, Michael was directly responsible for over 1,000 personnel across the business including in the fields of development, design, construction, leasing, management and marketing working hand-in-hand with the company's senior leadership team and founders Sir Frank Lowy AC, Steven Lowy AM and Peter Lowy before the business was acquired by Unibail Rodamco in 2018 in a $23bn transaction. 

More broadly, Michael has spent over four decades deeply embedded within global real estate markets via executive positions with Mirvac, Ellison Investments and Lendlease and was also recently a Director of the European Australian Business Council for some two and a half years. 

In his first major in-depth interview, our discussion with Michael will explore his storied life, his participation in the leadership team responsible for Westfield's enormous success, his current business interests and the key learnings he can share for those looking to emulate the career of one of the Country's most successful business people.

Michael Gutman OBE - Assembly Funds Management

Ready Media Group, in partnership with Belle Property Commercial is pleased to announce the launch of a brand new series, 'Women in Property & Business'.
This exclusive new program aims to showcase the most inspiring and successful women in the property, finance, consulting, not-for-profit & management fields, uncovering the secrets behind their success and sharing their insights for future generations.
Each week, Tamara Gross will highlight the achievements, challenges and learnings that each guest has experienced throughout their extraordinary careers.
Enjoy this week's discussion with Vanessa Fajnkind Founder & Director at Brook Recruitment.
Find the latest episodes on Spotify & across the Ready Media Group network.

Vanessa Fajnkind

Enjoy our discussion with Blake Goddard - Director, Head of Investment Sales, Capital Markets & Matt Barker, Director, Investment Sales, Capital Markets at Knight Frank Brisbane.

Blake Goddard & Matt Barker - Knight Frank

In another Ready Media Group exclusive interview, our special guest on this episode is Larry Kestelman - Executive Group Chairman of LK Group, a private, diversified family office that encompasses in excess of twenty businesses across the property, private equity, technology, sports & retail spheres.

In a remarkable career extending across more than three decades, Larry has established a formidable reputation as an entrepreneur, deal-maker & turnaround specialist with an innate sense of being able to disrupt industries as diverse as telecommunications, real estate development, basketball & apparel to name but a few.

Born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1966 to hard-working & highly educated parents (his mother was a Doctor, his father an electrical engineer), Larry’s childhood was characterised by modest and simple pleasures with the prevailing environment dominated by poverty & communism.

By age eleven, fearing the rise of the Soviet Union and armed with the desire to find a better life, the Kestelman Family left Ukraine and spent six months living in Italy before arriving in Australia, and specifically, Melbourne in 1979.

Over the course of the next forty-plus years, Larry’s work-ethic, business nous & unique ability to spot opportunities has led to the establishment, acquisition & divestment of a diverse range of businesses, not least including internet service provider Dodo, the National Basketball League (NBL), Brand Collective & Acquire Pacific - the culmination of which now sit under the umbrella of LK Group, one of Australia’s most successful organisations.

In this rare & exclusive in-depth profile, Larry walks us through his extraordinary life, unpacking his background, his early wins in business, the  transformational deals he’s undertaken and his key pieces of advice for those looking to emulate the successes of one of the Country’s very best business people.

Produced & distributed exclusively by Ready Media Group - home of Australia's flagship business series, featuring over 250 interviews since 2015.

Further information;

Ready Media - https://readymedia.com.au/

LK Group - https://www.lkg.com.au/

Larry Kestelman - LK Group

Our special guest on this episode is Audette Exel AO, Chair & Founder of Adara Group.

Audette is unquestionably one of Australia’s leading business & philanthropic figures, having been intimately involved in a diverse range of corporations for over four decades including within the legal, finance, banking and corporate advisory spheres.

Through determination & an extraordinary appetite for social activism, Audette has amassed a remarkable array of career experiences, from being appointed Managing Director of one of Bermuda’s largest banks (Bermuda Commercial Bank) aged just 30, to launching her own international development & advisory business Adara Group and sitting on the boards of some of the Country’s largest institutions including Suncorp Bank (2012-2020) and Westpac Bank (2021-present).

Our exclusive discussion with Audette unpacks her career, from her first corporate position as a solicitor at Allens, to her leadership of an international banking institution as well as the launch of her own advisory business, Adara Group, a company with offices in five countries across the World including Australia, the United States, Uganda, Nepal & Bermuda. 

Proudly produced, licensed & distributed exclusively by Ready Media Group.

https://readymedia.com.au/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdlangton/

Audette Exel AO - Adara Partners

Our special guest on this episode is Billionaire Mr. Robert Millner, Chairman of publicly listed, diversified investment group, Washington H. Soul Pattinson.

Unquestionably one of Australia’s oldest & most successful integrated businesses, Washington H. Soul Pattinson’s roots date back to Sydney in 1872 prior to becoming incorporated & listed on the stock exchange in 1903.

Through considered, long-term & strategic decision-making implemented throughout the course of its history by multiple generations of family leadership, Soul Patt’s has remarkably delivered a dividend to its shareholders, every year, for over one-hundred-and-twenty years - cementing its reputation in Australian corporate history & reinforcing its $10bn plus market capitalisation.

WHSP’s existing portfolio includes varied interests across the telecommunications, financial services, pharmaceutical, property, private equity & energy industries to name a few, with substantial stakes in key businesses including TPG Telecom, Brickworks Limited, New Hope Group, Apex Healthcare & Pitt Capital Partners.

On a personal level, Robert was born in Sydney (Beecroft) in 1950 before enrolling at Newington College, a boarding school in Sydney’s Inner South-West he attended from the age of eight until his graduation in 1968.

Over the course of the next fifteen or so years, Robert worked briefly as a stockbroker for a period of two years, before returning to his father Tom’s family farm in Cowra and spending the next thirteen or so years working the land prior to joining the family business, Soul Patt’s as a director in 1984 - a business he has been intimately involved in through a number of Board positions ever since.

Our exclusive feature profile of Robert unpacks his upbringing, the evolution of the Washington H. Soul Pattinson business, his investment philosophy, the macro-trends that drive markets & the fundamentals required for sustainable success on both a personal & professional level.

Robert Millner - Washington H. Soul Pattinson

Joining our series for his first ever in-depth interview is special guest - Jeff Chapman AM, Founder & Chairman of Bangarra Family Office & Bennelong Funds Management.

As one of Australia’s most successful business & philanthropic figures, Jeff’s remarkable career and influence extends across a diverse range of industries, including professional sports, media production, property development, funds management & global equities.

Born in the New South Wales town of Glen Innes in 1948, Jeff moved to Melbourne and attended Carey Grammar, wherein his sporting prowess was quickly recognised by his peers and culminated in him being appointed the school’s Football Captain.

Upon graduation, Jeff signed with the Hawthorn Football Club for one season before transferring to the Melbourne Football Club in 1966.

At the conclusion of his professional sporting career, Jeff transitioned into business, founding Sportsworld Media Group, an integrated production house that developed television programs, live broadcast events & magazines in 1991 before expanding the firm in Britain where it listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1998.

Following the sale of his stakes in the business upon it’s listing, and again two years later, Jeff launched his investment vehicle Bennelong Group in 2000 with a mandate of investing in businesses and operating real estate across England, the Middle East & Australia.

Over the ensuing two decades, Bennelong Group established itself as one of the Country’s most prolific investors, deploying capital across a range of sectors and industries including golf courses, commercial real estate projects and equities.

Launched in 2002 as a division of Bennelong Group, Jeff launched Bennelong Funds Management, a global investment company that partners with boutique asset managers across the World and that now has in excess of $15bn of assets under management across ten boutiques and six offices.

Jeff is also a highly respected philanthropist via the Bennelong Foundation in which his share of the profits from Bennelong Funds Management are channelled into a range of charitable causes in both Australia and the UK, with over fifty projects and seven-hundred grants distributed with an end value of in excess of $15m.

Through the Bangarra Family Office, Jeff manages his extensive investment interests including in Crown Golf, Bennelong Funds Management & his commercial property holdings.

Our exclusive discussion explores Jeff’s background, his professional football career, the rise of Sportsworld Media Group, his diversification into real estate and the significant rise and success of his global funds management house.

Proudly licensed, produced & distributed exclusively by Ready Media Group.

Host - Rob Langton

Further information;

https://readymedia.com.au/

https://bangarragroup.com/

https://www.bennelongfunds.com/

Jeff Chapman AM - Bennelong Funds

Our special guest is rich-lister Andrew Abercrombie, Chair & Founding Director of Humm Group and revered businessman, investor & philanthropist.

Born in Sydney in 1957, Andrew re-located to Melbourne at an early age and before long, his entrepreneurial qualities were on display, establishing five paper rounds as a teenager before turning his hand to trading motorbikes, cars and eventually residential real estate.

Following graduation from Scotch College, Andrew’s initial interest was in the field of medicine before a fortuitous change in circumstances coupled with his prior exposure to business led to him enrolling in an economics degree at LaTrobe University, graduating in 1976 before continuing his educational pursuits via a Master of Law degree at Monash University (1980).

Andrew then completed his articles at Garrick Grey & Co specialising in tax-planning and property trusts, ultimately establishing the foundations upon which he launched, alongside several others, his own legal firm in 1982 that focused on taxation, film-finance deals & the representation of clients across the entertainment industry including Cold Chisel and INXS.

Despite the early success the firm had over the course of the mid-1980’s, Andrew’s waning interest in the law culminated in a desire to explore other career options, and at age 30, he enrolled and was ultimately accepted into the ultra-competitive MBA course offered by IWD Switzerland, graduating in 1988.

After a brief stint in New York and in the shadows of a deteriorating global economic environment, Andrew returned to Australia and by 1990, identified opportunities to unlock value in companies that were either facing bankruptcy or were in liquidation.

One of those opportunities was a small leasing business that through a successful turnaround strategy implemented by Andrew during the course of the nineties and early two-thousands, grew to become listed on the stock exchange by 2006 and is now known as FlexiGroup.

Our exclusive feature interview with Andrew charts his journey across both his business and personal life, unpacking the key deals and lessons that have inspired his success.

Host - Rob Langton

Produced & distributed exclusively via - Ready Media Group

https://readymedia.com.au/

https://www.shophumm.com/humm-group/

#businessnews #businessinterview #meettheceo #ausbiz

Andrew Abercrombie - Humm Group

Our special guest on this episode is billionaire Arnold Vitocco - Founder & Managing Director of diversified family office Vitocco Enterprises.

Vitocco Enterprises is one of Australia’s most successful family-run private corporations, with a pedigree dating back some seventy years and a portfolio of assets that encompasses holdings across the property development, real estate investment, retail, agriculture and food and beverage sectors.

Arnold Vitocco Podcast

Arnold Vitocco - Vitocco Enterprises

A rare and exclusive interview with legendary Perth businessman, John Hughes - Founder & Chief Executive Officer of John Hughes Group.

• Founded 1969
• $500m revenue per annum
• 540 staff
• 2,500 cars sold per month

Exclusively presented by Ready Media Group.

Host - Rob Langton

John Hughes | John Hughes Group

Australia's flagship business series, featuring the most in-depth profile of business leaders & rich-listers in generations. 

Enjoy exclusive access to the Country's leading minds across family office, private wealth, real estate development, private equity and investment banking.

Audette Exel AO - Adara Partners

Ready Media Group

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