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Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s; the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history; and also his criminal conviction that saw him serve four years in prison. He is also remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America's Cup, the first time the New York Yacht Club had lost it in its 132-year history. He also founded Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia.
In his heyday the Perth-based Bond was one of Australia's most prominent businesspeople. He extended his business interests into fields outside property development including brewing (he controlled Castlemaine Tooheys in Australia, leading the business to legal success in the landmark constitutional law case of Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd v South Australia,. and G. Heileman Brewing Company in La Crosse, Wisconsin, US), gold mining, television, and airships. Australia's first private university, Bond University, was founded by the Bond Corporation in 1987." Bond University mourns the passing of Mr Alan Bond ". Bond University, 5 June 2015 He purchased QTQ-9 Brisbane and settled an outstanding defamation dispute the station had with the Queensland premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen by paying out A$400,000. He said in a television interview several years later that he paid because "Sir Joh left no doubt that if we were going to continue to do business successfully in Queensland then he expected the matter to be resolved".
In 1987, Bond purchased Vincent van Gogh's renowned painting Irises for $54 million—the highest price ever paid for a single painting at the time. However, the purchase was funded by a substantial loan from the auctioneer Sotheby's, which Bond failed to repay.According to an investigation by Jean-Pierre Thiollet published in Le Quotidien de Paris of 19 October 1989. The transaction was criticised by art dealers as possibly a manipulated sale designed to artificially inflate values generally (which it seems to have done). The painting was subsequently re-sold in 1990 to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Irises, image at the J. Paul Getty Museum
That same year, Bond also organised the establishment of the Bond Centre in Hong Kong, which was located in a twin tower skyscraper complex. The property was later bought by the Lippo Group of Indonesia, and is now known as the Lippo Centre. Bond Centre at Library of Congress
...when we first sat down, we said, 'We're either going to sell our stations to you for $400 million, or you're going to sell your stations to us.' And Kerry said, 'Well, I don't really want to sell my stations.' And I said, 'Oh, is that right?' So, anyway, after much discussion, Kerry thumped the table and said, 'Listen, if you can pay me $1 billion, I'll sell them to you, otherwise bugger off'. ... Then I rang the National Australia Bank. I said, 'Look, I'm in discussions here to buy these television stations. Kerry will sell to me, and what I want to do is put our stations together and then, with Sky Racing, I'm going to float it off as a separate entity and raise the capital to pay for it... Packer said $1 billion was, but I think I'll get it for $800 million.' ... The duly rang back and said yes. I said, 'Thank God. I'll go and have some further negotiations with Kerry,' which I did. And true to his word, he never budged one penny off it. So I settled the deal with $800 million and a $200 million note. So he put his own $200 million in. So I had $1 billion. And we put our other two stations up as collateral, which were worth probably $400 million. Alan Bond interview transcript from Enough Rope, ABC TV interview with Andrew Denton, 3 November 2003
In fact, the agreed price was $1.05 billion. Packer took $800 million in cash and $250 million in subordinated debt in Bond Media. When Bond went bankrupt, Packer was able to turn the debt into a 37% equity in Bond Media, which now included Channel 9 in Brisbane, and was worth about $500 million. It was valued at $1 billion, but had $500 million in debt on the books. Packer was quoted as saying, "You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime, and I've had mine".
In 1995, his family bought him out of bankruptcy, with creditors accepting a payment of A$12 million, a little over half a cent per dollar.
In 1997, Bond was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to using his controlling interest in Bell Resources to deceptively siphon off A$1.2 billion into the coffers of the Bond Corporation. The funds were used to shore up the cash resources of the ailing Bond Corporation, which spectacularly collapsed, leaving Bell Resources in a precarious and uncertain position. He was stripped of his 1984 honour as an Officer of the Order of Australia.Mickelburough, Peter " Social leaders stripped of honours after falling from grace ", Herald Sun, 6 June 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2014
Bond was released from Karnet Prison Farm in 2000, having served four years in various Western Australian prisons.
In 2003, Bond was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame. Since 2003, Bond had worked closely with his son Craig and longtime business partner Robert Quinn through Strategic Investments Ltd.Reece, Damian & Mary Fagan, Bond on comeback trail The Telegraph (UK), 17 September 2000.
Interests related to the Bond family also control Global Diamond Resources plc (formerly Lesotho Diamond Corporation) which is developing the Kao diamond pipe in the Lesotho. In 2007, the Federal Court rejected an attempt by Bond to sue freelance journalist Paul Barry over an article Barry wrote about his dealings in Africa with the Lesotho Diamond Company. Court dismisses case against journalist Paul Barry ABC News, 22 September 2007 Bond had claimed that the article had several false statements. In 2008 Bond appealed but this, too, was rejected by the same court which found Bond's claims had no reasonable prospects of success. Bond loses Federal Court appeal , ABC News, 23 June 2008
Bond was involved in a long-running defamation case against The West Australian newspaper and journalists Mark Drummond and Sean Cowan over a series of articles published in December 2005, in which it was alleged that Bond's friend and business partner Robert Leslie Nelson was moving to hide Bond's involvement in Lesotho Diamond Corporation, Madagascar Oil and a gold company.. During that case, Bond tried to have the journalists convicted of contempt of court after some electronic documents disappeared.
In 2008, Bond made a return to the Business Review Weeklys "Rich 200 List", in 157th spot, with an estimated wealth of $265 million—thanks primarily to his stakes in Madagascar Oil and Global Diamond Resources.
Bond married Diana Bliss, a public relations consultant and theatre producer, in 1995. On 28 January 2012, Bliss was found dead in the couple's swimming pool. Police said the circumstances of her death were not suspicious and concluded that Bliss, a long-time sufferer of depression, had committed suicide.
John Wood portrayed Bond in the miniseries The Challenge (1986), which depicted Australia's famous victory of the 1983 America's Cup.
In the Australian TV miniseries Killing Time (2011), he was again played by John Wood.
The Australian TV miniseries House of Bond (2017) is a heavily fictionalised account of Bond's life. Bond was portrayed by Ben Mingay. It was aired on the Nine Network on 24–25 April 2017.
In 2021, Perth-based psychedelic rock/pop band Pond released a song titled "America's Cup" that would go on to appear on their ninth studio album, 9; the song, which is about the drastic changes brought upon Perth in the aftermath of the 1983 America's Cup, repeatedly mentions Bond with the line, "Alan was a rolling stone".
In real life, Bond was represented by criminal lawyer Andrew Fraser, notable for representing Australian underworld figures and other unsavoury elements. Fraser himself would later become imprisoned.
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