Back in the spolight

Adelaide businessman and rich list member Robert Gerard has kept a low profile for most of the past five years.

It was back in late 2005 that Gerard was embroiled in a political scandal after it was revealed his company, Gerard Industries, had settled a 14-year, $150 million tax dispute with the Australian Taxation Office for $75 million, just six months after Gerard joined the Reserve Bank board in March 2003.

Gerard, who protested his innocence throughout the scandal, resigned from the RBA board in December 2005 and largely faded from the national stage.

But in 2010, Gerard’s name has again been in the media.

In May, the Gerard family listed its lighting group Gerard Lighting Corporation (GLC) on the Australian Securities Exchange, with Robert Gerard as chairman and his son Simon as chief executive.

While the bulk of the $85 million raised in the float was used to pay down debt, GLC has wasted little time on expansion, buying rival Frend Lighting in mid-July for $8 million in cash, plus another $1 million in incentive payments. A week later, the company announced a joint venture deal with an emergency lighting company.

While GLC shares continue to trade just below their $1 issue price, the Gerard family stake is worth about $85 million.

Yesterday, Gerard’s return to the national stage continued as he fronted a press conference to announce that he was heading a consortium to purchase A-League soccer club Adelaide United from the Football Federation of Australia.

Gerard will own the club in a partnership with a number of other prominent South Australian business people.

While Gerard is known as a strong supporter of AFL and racing in South Australia (particularly through North Adelaide Football Club) he said a trip to the recent World Cup in South Africa convinced him to support the A-League team, which had been placed under the control of the FFA after the former owner could not afford to continue propping up the club.

“It wasn’t right that United was owned by the association itself, that was unfair to the players, unfair to the supporters,” he said yesterday.

“It needed someone to take it on, so we have.”

Interestingly, Gerard won’t be taking a public role with the club, and another member of the consortium, Greg Griffin, will act as chairman.

Regardless, the club will be relying heavily on Gerard support. And that means we’re likely to be hearing a bit more from the Adelaide rich list veteran than we have in recent times.