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What next for Point Piper’s ‘Bang & Olufsen’ house?
By Lucy Macken
Point Piper’s trophy home colloquially known as “the Bang & Olufsen house” has, for almost a decade, stood as an unofficial monument to the wealth and stature of its rumoured owner Yafu Qiu, head of Chinese textile giant Shandong Ruyi.
But early this year, creditors and liquidators started circling Ruyi’s debt-laden fashion subsidiaries, and it seems the Qiu family hopes to make what one source dubbed a “quiet exit” from the landmark Sydney house.
The Bang & Olufsen house last traded in 2013 for $33.5 million.
The waterfront property, nicknamed by Elton John given its resemblance to a high-tech stereo, was last sold in 2013 for $33.5 million by Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam to a beneficial trust fronted by Shandong Ruyi’s former Australian boss Tony McKenna.
At the time, the Shandong Ruyi was known for its $232 million purchase of Cubbie Station and its accompanying licences to store more water than Sydney Harbour, but that ended in March, when Macquarie Asset Management bought the company’s remaining 51 per cent stake.
More recently, a slew of the company’s fashion subsidiaries have been making headlines globally given troubling debt levels. This year alone, the British tailoring brand subsidiary Trinity Limited has been placed in liquidation as creditors circled its Lycra business, and Qiu and his daughter Chenran Qiu have been removed from the board of the French fashion firm SMCP after a loan default.
Textiles billionaire Qiu Yafu’s company was until recently majority owner of cotton farm Cubbie Station.Credit:Bloomberg
And all while Chenran and her husband Jerry Liu recently revealed their involvement in the Bang & Olufsen house after each of their lawyers lodged separate caveats claiming their beneficial interest in the property.
No doubt complicating matters for the Qiu family is McKenna’s departure from the company last year and his appointment as chief of forestry company Midway in January.
McKenna was unavailable to comment, but corporate records show he no longer holds any corporate ties to Ruyi, which leaves his role as a nominee on the property’s trust as the only hangover from his time at the textiles conglomerate. And even that looks set to end, amid talk of the Qiu family’s “exit” from the house.
All of which might be news to the house’s current tenant, investment banker turned publican Jon Adgemis.
Doctor in the house
Medico Kenney Wan, wife of anaesthetist Brett Wells, has emerged as the $16.5 million buyer of Edgecliff’s historic Fenton.
The historic Fenton residence in Edgecliff sold for $16.5 million.
This is the National Trust-classified house that was sold by Macquarie Telecom founders, brothers David and Aidan Tudehope after 27 years of family ownership.
The house, designed by architect Robin Dods, looks to be a good upgrade (with no finance required) for Wan from the Kogarah home she and Wells share near St George Hospital.
Hush hush in Mosman
The Mosman home of Paul Fleming was sold on the quiet to Peter Papas.
The Mosman waterfront home of Paul Fleming, thoroughbred horse owner and son of the late grocery tycoon Jim Fleming, has sold on the quiet for $9.37 million.
Paul Fleming is downsizing from the Mosman waterfront.
Sources say the deal was brokered by The Property Experts’ Rob Klaric. Settlement reveals it was bought by private equity whiz Peter Papas, owner of Kazzi Beach Greek eateries at Balmoral and Manly.
Papas is known among Mosman’s high-end home shoppers for his luxury home developments. He commissioned the mansion in Beauty Point designed by MacCormick & Associates that was bought by exiled billionaire Huang Xiangmo in 2012 for $12.8 million.
Papas’ newly acquired Chinamans Beach house last traded three years ago for $8 million, when it was sold by adman Rob Belgiovane, who had bought it in 2016, paying $6.5 million to former Bank of Queensland chief Stuart Grimshaw.