The sheep shearers
THE reappearance of Kerry Packer prompts a question which has been wor- rying me for some time: who, in Australia, is there left to look after the sheep? Surely every Australian, and New Zealander too, is now fully employed in raiding the old country's companies? Or, to put it another way, how do these two small and unsuc- cessful economies throw up an apparently limitless succession of bidders, all sup- posed to have limitless funds? John Elliott, who has taken Courage, John Spelvins, whose Adelaide Steamship has opened fire on Royal Insurance, Sir Ron Brierley, New
Zealand's answer to the Kuwait Invest- ment Office, Larry (not the mouth organ- ist) Adler, who gave Hill Samuel such a fright. . . . The list stretches on, but before we take every Antipodean raider at his own estimation, we should look at a more recent list, that of possible casualties. Equiticorp, the New Zealand outfit which bought control of Guinness Mahon, has gone bust. Robert Holmes a'Court has had his troubles, so has the luckless Warwick 'Wocky' Fairfax, while as for Alan Bond, with his credit rating down in the cellar, how he must regret taking on the old master, Tiny Rowland! The moral is an old one — that large borrowings are one thing and limitless funds are another, while limitless cheek may be something else again. There is more than one way to shear sheep. As for Mr Packer, I do not doubt that he has plenty of money of his own, though I cannot say that the thought gives me pleasure.
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