Bond’s bubble

Smiling through adversity

AUSTRALIANS had never seen anyone quite like Alan Bond when he burst on to the business scene in the early 1980s. His father had once predicted he would either become very rich or end up in jail. He achieved both. Mr Bond (pictured as he left prison in 2000) was a key figure among a clutch of tycoons who rewrote the rules of Australian business. The 1980s’ bullish stockmarket, and obliging banks, sustained high-rollers like Mr Bond and Robert Holmes à Court as they pulled off ever more audacious deals.

In 1959 Mr Bond launched Bond Corporation, which eventually came to own stakes in breweries, gold mines, property, television and even a Chilean telephone company. As he built his business empire, he embarked on repeated bids to win the America’s Cup yachting trophy. His success on the fourth attempt in 1983, the first time America had lost the cup, made him a national hero in Australia. In his book “The Rise and Fall of Alan Bond”, Paul Barry quotes him describing as a “bloody fool” anyone who saw the yacht race as just a sporting event, rather than a business proposition. Indeed, few banks...

from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1Qrdj9u