This was the second article in our first issue – and who is smart or what? Jim Hazel managed to sell Primelife to merchant bankers Babcock & Brown four months before the GFC started to bite.
Primelife had been purchased from industry ‘character’ Ted Sent by mining magnate Robert Champion de Crespigny and property developer Ron Walker. They recruited Jim Hazel as a non-Executive Director but when Ted was caught bugging board meetings and executive telephone calls Jim was installed as CEO.
He re-engineered the business and sold it to Babcock & Brown. Within months B&B shares had halved in value and by December 2008 Lendlease stepped in and bought 41% the B&B villages and its 30 care facilities for $240 million. They mopped up the rest 12 months later. February 2013 Lendlease sold the 30 B&B aged care facilities for $270 million, creating Allity.
