Accused domestic violence perpetrator Antony Catalano has evened the balance of power in the boardroom of his regional newspaper empire by making his 25-year-old son Luca Catalano a director of the company overseeing Australian Community Media.
The younger Catalano, who until January this year was head of business development at Australian Community Media, was appointed on Thursday to the now four-person board of an entity called 20 Cashews that oversees the company. He joins his 35-year-old brother Jordan as a director.
Their father, Antony, resigned as executive chairman of the peak board in May after he was charged with assaulting a woman at his home in St Kilda in March.
Antony Catalano is facing eight criminal charges in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. Police allege that, in a March 13 domestic violence incident, he swung a clothes iron at his wife Stefanie’s head, unlawfully imprisoned her in the luxury apartment, threatened to stab her to death and choked or strangled her. She was admitted to hospital with a broken tailbone.
The 59-year-old businessman owns half of Australian Community Media. Billionaire Alex Waislitz, who is represented on the 20 Cashews board by Melbourne-based executives Peter Landos and Martin Casey, holds the other half. Landos and Casey are key lieutenants at Waislitz’s Thorney Investment Group.
ACM titles include The Canberra Times, The Newcastle Herald, The Border Mail and The Illawarra Mercury. The business also has a portfolio of valuable property assets around the country.
Before the alleged assault and Catalano’s exit, the three-person 20 Cashews board had been weighted to Waislitz’s men.
A source close to the operation, but not authorised to speak on the record, said the 20 Cashews constitution allowed for three board appointees each from the Waislitz and Catalano camps. Luca’s appointment takes the representation to two men each.
Following Catalano’s public downfall, a source close to the business but not authorised to speak publicly confirmed that Waislitz’s private investment company Thorney had received several expressions of interest in buying ACM from the pair.
This follows advances in the months prior to the alleged assault from billionaire businesswoman Gina Rinehart, who has also had discussions with Waislitz representatives about potentially investing in or buying ACM.
Along with his half stake in ACM, the journalist-turned-businessman owns a multi-million dollar portfolio of property and hospitality assets in Australia and around the world.
New 20 Cashews director Luca owns part of the Byron Bay land on which his father plans to build a $29 million family compound. The 25-year-old in May took out two fresh mortgages over the land to allow another of his father’s vehicles to settle on the $17 million purchase of retail and hospitality sites attached to the just-opened Bonobo by Raes luxury boutique hotel also in Byron Bay. Catalano also owns the Raes on Wategos luxury resort in the town.
Following the alleged assault, Antony resigned all his corporate directorships in favour of Jordan. At the time, Antony said he was “struggling with significant mental health and substance abuse issues” and entered a suburban Melbourne rehabilitation facility shortly after the assault charges were laid.
Catalano is scheduled to be back before the court on the assault charges in October. Antony Catalano and ACM were contacted for comment.
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