From 'The Australian's' 'Margin Call' this morning:(it was...

From 'The Australian's' 'Margin Call' this morning:

(it was previously reported that in its latest accounts, unlisted Pacific National was lossmaking):

Birthday gift

And it looks like Lindsay Fox wasn’t the only person toasting success last Friday during his 87th birthday celebrations at an Essendon Fields Airport hangar. The party was Scottish-themed, again, a riff on last year’s event at the National Gallery of Victoria. Still, fewer people were spotted in Highland garb this time and some had no respect for the dress code at all. Looking at you, Gill McLachlan, Eddie McGuire, Dan Andrews and Ciaran Carruthers.

Paul Scurrah, CEO of Pacific National, clearly received the memo, turning up in a kilt and enjoying a scotch after receiving a substantial gift from the host that week: the renewal of a hotly contested 10-year logistics contract with Linfox, worth in the order of $1bn, according to industry sources.

Mark McInnes and other guest arrive at Lindsay Fox’s 87th birthday celebrations. Picture: Wayne Taylor

PacNat went into the bidding with Linfox as the incumbents but faced off against Aurizon, Qube and CTC Logistics. We hear Scurrah received news of Linfox’s decision a day or so before the party, so the celebrations clearly had dual purpose – at least for him.

And it couldn’t have arrived at a better time for the Catherine Livingstone-chaired PacNat, either – just as Scurrah prepares to pitch a large slice of the business, the 50 per cent that’s owned by Global Infrastructure Partners.