Peter Holmes à Court
Encyclopedia
Peter Holmes à Court is an Australian businessman and a joint owner of the National Rugby League
team South Sydney Rabbitohs
together with Russell Crowe
.
He is the eldest son of the late millionaire businessman Robert Holmes à Court
and Janet Holmes à Court
.
in Corio
, he read law
at Oxford University and received his BA in economics and theatre from Middlebury College
, Vermont.
, operating in New York
, London and Sydney. Back Row produced at least twenty live shows in thirty countries and 300 cities worldwide. In 1994 Holmes à Court put together an off-Broadway rock musical, Fallen Angel. The show was open for three weeks and lost most of Holmes à Court's available capital as well as the capital put in by investors. Peter's mother, Janet Holmes à Court's official biography states: "Newly married, Peter Holmes à Court was impatient for success and not interested in working in a hands-on way to learn the theatre business, as someone like Cameron Mackintosh
had done. Peter had some tough lessons early. Billy Boesky's rock and roll musical, Fallen Angel, was Peter's first off-Broadway show, which he put together in 1994. It stayed open three weeks and lost most of Peter's available capital and that of some investor's close to home who weren't happy with the result".
educational television show, Lift Off
, which was booked and scheduled. Holmes à Court wanted to close the show down, despite contractual obligations. To make things more complicated his mother Janet's company, Heytesbury, was an investor in Lift Off and was entitled to income from ancillary rights. Janet Holmes à Court's biographer, Patricia Edgar
, details the incident in another book, Bloodbath: a memoir of Australian television, stating that Back Row Productions was also in financial trouble. Edgar describes how Janet initially reacted to the situation by attempting to force Peter to meet his obligations, but later wanted to assume the Back Row Productions' debt and pay out of her own pocket to save her son from ignominy."Janet suggested that she assume Back Row's debt with the Foundation and pay out of her own pocket. She knew Peter was in financial difficulties and this was a way to avert further damage..."
In 2000 Holmes à Court settled out of court with his family to gain his inheritance from the family company, Heytesbury. Holmes à Court's father, Robert Holmes à Court, died intestate leaving his wife Janet one third of the family fortune with the four children getting the other two thirds. The amount Peter Holmes à Court received was reported as A$35 million.
At the same time he took up the position as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Agricultural Company
(AACo) and was responsible for re-listing AACo on the Australian Stock Exchange
. With his younger brother Paul Holmes à Court in charge of Heytesbury, Peter had effectively set himself up in competition with his family's primary business.
In 2004 Holmes à Court stood down from the post of CEO of the AACo.
gained 75% ownership of the South Sydney Rabbitohs
through a vote of the Membership of the club. Holmes à Court became Executive Chairman of the club. In early 2008 he became CEO of the Rabbitohs after Shane Richardson resigned and took up a position as Director of Sports Operations in Holmes à Court's company The Passionate Group in October 2007.
In May 2008 Holmes à Court resigned as Executive Chairman and CEO of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Some reports suggested that Holmes à Court had been forced to stand down after his relationship with Crowe had deteriorated.
At the same time as Holmes à Court stood aside, the previous CEO, Shane Richardson, was subsequently re-appointed to the role of CEO of the Rabbitohs. Nick Pappas
was also re-appointed as Chairman.
In April 2009, Holmes à Court was recalled to the witness box in the NSW Supreme Court in a defamation case brought against him by Tony Papaconstuntinos, known as Tony Papa, a Member of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Holmes à Court said that Russell Crowe had hired San Francisco-based husband-and-wife team Palladino & Sutherland ( Jack Palladino
), to do surveillance work on people opposed to their planned takeover of the South Sydney Football Club. Holmes a Court admitted that Crowe had engaged the investigators but that he had also given instructions to Sandra Sutherland and the firm had used its "Australian associates" to conduct surveillance of the "no" campaign.
In August 2009 it was revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald
that Holmes à Court had ignored NSW Supreme Court orders for payment of costs to several people who had been subpoenaed by Holmes à Court in the Tony Papa defamation case. The newspaper revealed, on 22 August 2009, that writs for levy of property had been taken out by two long-time members of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. This action designated Holmes à Court a "judgement debtor" and enabled the NSW Sheriff's office to seize property on behalf of the two Rabbitohs Members.
On 4 September 2009, Holmes à Court was found, by Justice Lucy McCallum in the NSW Supreme Court, to have defamed Tony Papaconstuntinos. Justice McCallum ordered Holmes à Court to pay A$25,000 and all costs. Holmes à Court claimed a "moral victory".
In March 2010 Holmes à Court resigned as a director of the Rabbitohs, but remains a 37.5% shareholder in partnership with Russell Crowe.
In March 2010 Holmes à Court resigned as a director of Queensland Rail
, having served on the board since 2006.
Holmes à Court is a member of the Lord Mayor's City of Sydney Business Forum. In April 2010 he was appointed as head of the 'Greater Sydney Partnership', a NSW Government initiative to promote Sydney globally.
In November 2010 the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that Holmes à Court was departing from the Greater Sydney Partnership. He said his departure just eight months after he took on the role of chairman was "premature". Holmes à Court also said he was "not thrilled at the prospect of sitting at home alone", as his wife and children were leaving for Europe and 'plans to set himself up in a farmhouse to write a book'.
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
team South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
together with Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
.
He is the eldest son of the late millionaire businessman Robert Holmes à Court
Robert Holmes à Court
Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court was an entrepreneur who became Australia's first businessman worth over a billion dollars before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990.Holmes à Court was one of the world's most feared corporate raiders through the 1980s, having built his empire...
and Janet Holmes à Court
Janet Holmes à Court
Janet Holmes à Court, AC, HFAIB is an Australian businesswoman, and one of Australia's wealthiest women. She is the Chairman of one of Australia's largest private companies, Heytesbury Pty Ltd, having turned around its fortunes after the death of her husband Robert Holmes à Court in 1990...
.
Education
After completing his schooling at Geelong Grammar SchoolGeelong Grammar School
Geelong Grammar School is an independent, Anglican, co-educational, boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located at Corio, on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay....
in Corio
Corio, Victoria
Corio is a residential, industrial and one of the largest suburbs of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, located approximately 9 km north of the Geelong central business district...
, he read law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at Oxford University and received his BA in economics and theatre from Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
, Vermont.
Overseas ventures
In 1993 Holmes à Court formed Back Row ProductionsBack Row Productions
Back Row Productions is a company established in 1995 with offices in London and Sydney and is run by Managing Directors Liz Koops and Garry McQuinn....
, operating in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, London and Sydney. Back Row produced at least twenty live shows in thirty countries and 300 cities worldwide. In 1994 Holmes à Court put together an off-Broadway rock musical, Fallen Angel. The show was open for three weeks and lost most of Holmes à Court's available capital as well as the capital put in by investors. Peter's mother, Janet Holmes à Court's official biography states: "Newly married, Peter Holmes à Court was impatient for success and not interested in working in a hands-on way to learn the theatre business, as someone like Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
had done. Peter had some tough lessons early. Billy Boesky's rock and roll musical, Fallen Angel, was Peter's first off-Broadway show, which he put together in 1994. It stayed open three weeks and lost most of Peter's available capital and that of some investor's close to home who weren't happy with the result".
Return to Australia
In 1996 Holmes à Court became involved in a dispute over a contracted tour of Lift-Off Live, a spin-off of an Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
educational television show, Lift Off
Lift Off
Lift Off was an Australian educational television series that was broadcast on ABC Television from 1992 until the series ended in 1996. Each episode featured a live action storyline about a group of young children, and the problems they encountered with growing up, their parents, and various other...
, which was booked and scheduled. Holmes à Court wanted to close the show down, despite contractual obligations. To make things more complicated his mother Janet's company, Heytesbury, was an investor in Lift Off and was entitled to income from ancillary rights. Janet Holmes à Court's biographer, Patricia Edgar
Patricia Edgar
Patricia May Edgar AM is an Australian author, television producer and educator, best known as the founding director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation....
, details the incident in another book, Bloodbath: a memoir of Australian television, stating that Back Row Productions was also in financial trouble. Edgar describes how Janet initially reacted to the situation by attempting to force Peter to meet his obligations, but later wanted to assume the Back Row Productions' debt and pay out of her own pocket to save her son from ignominy."Janet suggested that she assume Back Row's debt with the Foundation and pay out of her own pocket. She knew Peter was in financial difficulties and this was a way to avert further damage..."
In 2000 Holmes à Court settled out of court with his family to gain his inheritance from the family company, Heytesbury. Holmes à Court's father, Robert Holmes à Court, died intestate leaving his wife Janet one third of the family fortune with the four children getting the other two thirds. The amount Peter Holmes à Court received was reported as A$35 million.
At the same time he took up the position as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Agricultural Company
Australian Agricultural Company
The Australian Agricultural Company is a company which serves to improve beef cattle production through responsible natural resource and land use...
(AACo) and was responsible for re-listing AACo on the Australian Stock Exchange
Australian Stock Exchange
The Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....
. With his younger brother Paul Holmes à Court in charge of Heytesbury, Peter had effectively set himself up in competition with his family's primary business.
In 2004 Holmes à Court stood down from the post of CEO of the AACo.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
In March 2006 Holmes à Court and Russell CroweRussell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
gained 75% ownership of the South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
through a vote of the Membership of the club. Holmes à Court became Executive Chairman of the club. In early 2008 he became CEO of the Rabbitohs after Shane Richardson resigned and took up a position as Director of Sports Operations in Holmes à Court's company The Passionate Group in October 2007.
In May 2008 Holmes à Court resigned as Executive Chairman and CEO of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Some reports suggested that Holmes à Court had been forced to stand down after his relationship with Crowe had deteriorated.
At the same time as Holmes à Court stood aside, the previous CEO, Shane Richardson, was subsequently re-appointed to the role of CEO of the Rabbitohs. Nick Pappas
Nick Pappas
Dr Nicholas George Pappas is a solicitor from Sydney, Australia, and also the current chairman of the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby league club. He was also chairman of the club from April 2003 to June 2006...
was also re-appointed as Chairman.
In April 2009, Holmes à Court was recalled to the witness box in the NSW Supreme Court in a defamation case brought against him by Tony Papaconstuntinos, known as Tony Papa, a Member of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Holmes à Court said that Russell Crowe had hired San Francisco-based husband-and-wife team Palladino & Sutherland ( Jack Palladino
Jack Palladino
Jack Palladino is a San Francisco-based private investigator and attorney. Born in Boston, he attended Boston Latin School and went on to do his undergraduate studies at Cornell...
), to do surveillance work on people opposed to their planned takeover of the South Sydney Football Club. Holmes a Court admitted that Crowe had engaged the investigators but that he had also given instructions to Sandra Sutherland and the firm had used its "Australian associates" to conduct surveillance of the "no" campaign.
In August 2009 it was revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
that Holmes à Court had ignored NSW Supreme Court orders for payment of costs to several people who had been subpoenaed by Holmes à Court in the Tony Papa defamation case. The newspaper revealed, on 22 August 2009, that writs for levy of property had been taken out by two long-time members of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. This action designated Holmes à Court a "judgement debtor" and enabled the NSW Sheriff's office to seize property on behalf of the two Rabbitohs Members.
On 4 September 2009, Holmes à Court was found, by Justice Lucy McCallum in the NSW Supreme Court, to have defamed Tony Papaconstuntinos. Justice McCallum ordered Holmes à Court to pay A$25,000 and all costs. Holmes à Court claimed a "moral victory".
In March 2010 Holmes à Court resigned as a director of the Rabbitohs, but remains a 37.5% shareholder in partnership with Russell Crowe.
Current activities
Holmes à Court is the Chairman of White Bull Holdings, a private investment company. He is also a director of ISFM, The Passionate Group, and Viocorp.In March 2010 Holmes à Court resigned as a director of Queensland Rail
Queensland Rail
Queensland Rail, also known as QR, is a government-owned railway operator in the state of Queensland. Under the control of the Queensland Government, Queensland Rail operates the inner-city and long-distance passenger services, as well as some freight operations and gives railway access to other...
, having served on the board since 2006.
Holmes à Court is a member of the Lord Mayor's City of Sydney Business Forum. In April 2010 he was appointed as head of the 'Greater Sydney Partnership', a NSW Government initiative to promote Sydney globally.
In November 2010 the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that Holmes à Court was departing from the Greater Sydney Partnership. He said his departure just eight months after he took on the role of chairman was "premature". Holmes à Court also said he was "not thrilled at the prospect of sitting at home alone", as his wife and children were leaving for Europe and 'plans to set himself up in a farmhouse to write a book'.