What's that old saying from Warren Buffett: Only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked.
Linc Energy founder Peter Bond has been assuring Rupert Murdoch's press pack that all is well in his Dunk Island paradise despite the Linc collapse and the fact the government is looking for someone to pay the clean-up bill, which is now in the tens of millions of dollars.
![Former Linc Energy CEO Peter Bond is reported to have spent $27 million fixing up Dunk Island.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171129203227im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/c/s/l/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzugmn.png/1511955850222.jpg)
And despite the fact the devastated Dunk Island resort he acquired in 2011 for $7.5 million â and has allegedly spent $27 million fixing up â is still in a state of abandonment, according to the same Murdoch press.
And despite the fact he has abandoned the lease on the publicly owned Dunk Island Spit this week. Which means it is now open to public tender.
![Dunk Island before it was clobbered by Cyclone Yasi.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171129203227im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/7/3/g/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzugmn.png/1511955850222.jpg)
And let's not mention the latest failure to sell his sprawling Fig Tree Pocket estate at a price that was less than what he paid for it almost a decade ago.
All is well.
Bond told The Australian he is retendering for the Spit site, which is adjacent to his luxury resort, which is almost ready for business â just as it was last year when he last made this promise.
"We have finished the resort and we are finishing the accommodation, [but] there is no date set for opening," he told the Oz.
![Illustration: John Shakespeare](http://web.archive.org./web/20171129203227im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/v/g/z/u/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gzugmn.png/1511955850222.jpg)
Last year, he was also talking up the prospects of the revamp of the Spit's facilities into a cafe, 20 luxury "glamping" villas and space for music concerts and festivals.
"I want to start turning dirt in March next year. By September next year I'd like to have those units built."
It is now November.
"As custodians of the region we are creating a vision for the future of the Dunk Island Spit so it is critical that we get this right. This is the reason why the process has been lengthy and incredibly thorough," Cassowary Coast councillor Wayne Kimberley said.
For those caught up in the Christmas season rush and feeling like giving Bond a run for his money â you have to get your tender in for the Dunk Island Spit site by February 28 next year.
Wrong 'un
Speaking of summer pastimes. CBD caught a dose of the Ashes spirit at the Australian British Chamber of Commerce's Ashes lunch, with Sir Ian Botham and other cricketing greats providing the entertainment.
Watching from the audience was former Wallabies captain â Taurus Funds Management director, Nick Farr-Jones.
Also spotted was former Fairfax director and Aberdeen Standard Investments chairman Peter Young and Macquarie's Tim Whitehead.
But the most interesting names on the list were Seven West Media chief financial officer Warwick Lynch, and Seven Group Holdings number cruncher Gavin Armstrong.
Is there any particular reason two of Kerry Stokes' numbers boys were celebrating a sport currently televised by the Nine Network?
Black hole
While the likely success of Annastacia Palaszczuk's Labor government in the Queensland election is expected to kill off the prospect of any public funding for Adani's Charmichael coal mine, the company's boss, Gautam Adani, was able to commiserate with some pretty powerful friends.
He was spotted in Hyderabad, India, at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, dining with US first daughter Ivanka Trump and the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Damodardas Modi.
Cold hard cash
With China's President Xi Jinping announcing the great unravelling of the acquisition binge by local conglomerates such as Wanda and HNA, it was interesting to see the latter announce plans last week to acquire Automotive Holdings refrigerated logistics business for $280 million.
HNA CEO Adam Tan told a Beijing conference on Tuesday that the group is caving in to government pressure and consider selling assets, although the recently acquired stake in John Borghetti's Virgin Australia stake is not expected to feature.
As for the Automotive business, an interesting report surfaced this week about the "meaningful break fee" that Automotive says it will receive if the deal is terminated due to HNA failing to get the regulatory approval for the deal.
Bloomberg recently spoke to "sources close to the deal" and had a stab at the size of this break fee and came up with a number that equated to more than 5 per cent of the $400 million enterprise value of the business.
That means Automotive â chaired by former Macquarie exec David Griffiths â could receive a break fee of more than $20 million on a deal worth $280 million, which by CBD's reckoning is roughly seven times the normal going rate.
It would be a financial bonanza for Automotive investors, but the news obviously did not cheer them up ahead of the company's AGM on Friday, where the company narrowly avoided a strike on its remuneration report and recorded significant protest votes against the awarding of performance rights as well as the re-election of a director.
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