Former rich list member and tourism group chief Brett Pointon hit by collapse of private companies

Former rich list member Brett Pointon, who is the founder and chief executive of listed tourism group Oaks Hotels & Resorts, has been hit by the collapse of two private companies, with receivers grabbing control of most of his stake in Oaks Hotels & Resorts.

Pointon, who featured on BRW‘s Rich 200 magazine in 2006 with a fortune of $135 million, founded Oaks in 1991 and launched into the tourism sector in 2004 after acquiring the management rights to a hotel in the Queensland town of Hervey Bay.

Oaks Hotels & Resorts then went on an acquisition spree, buying management rights to properties across Australia and overseas. The company listed in May 2006.

Pointon owned more than 66 million shares in the company, valued at almost $20 million based on yesterday’s closing price of 30c a share.

But this morning, the shares have plunged 20% to 24c after the company announced that receivers from PricewaterhouseCoopers had seized control of most of Pointon’s stake on behalf of ANZ Bank after also taking control of two of his private companies: Centrepoint Holdings Pty Ltd and The Oaks Apartment Management Pty Ltd.

Oaks Hotels & Resorts chairman Doug Wong told SmartCompany that the collapse of Pointon’s private companies had no material impact on the listed company, despite one of Pointon’s companies sharing the “Oaks” name.

“It’s a personal matter,” Wong said.

“It’s just unfortunate that one of the companies has the Oaks name. That’s just an accident of history.”

Wong said it was the board’s view that Pointon should remain as chief executive.

However, he will wait for Pointon to return from overseas to discuss whether the executive will need time off to sort out his personal affairs.

“That will be a judgement call for Brett.”

Wong says the receivers do not intend to sell the stake in Oaks Hotels & Resorts in the “near- to medium-term” although the reaction of investors today suggests they are concerned about how the stake will eventually be dealt with.

The collapse of Pointon’s private companies caps a difficult few years for the company which has seen its shares fall from a peak of $2.40 in late 2006 due to the global financial crisis, falling tourist numbers and late openings of some hotels.

Last year, a deal with a Chinese investor to by 19.9% of the company collapsed, leaving the investor with 5.5% stake.

Oaks Hotels & Resorts also said in December that it has until Monday, January 31 to complete an equity raising of $15 million to meet an agreement made with its financier, ANZ. The company has already raised $6.5 million but is yet to make an announcement on the other funds.