Telenet CEO pays $12.1m ‘record price' for house with no parking
The boss of a Belgium-based telco who once ran Austar has paid a $12.1m record price for a house with no parking in Woollahra.
John Porter, CEO of Antwerp-based Telenet, and his wife Susan Mougey appear on settlement records for 155 Queen St, Woollahra, which achieved the mega result off-market recently via Maclay Longhurst of Sotheby's.
Prior to joining Telenet, Porter was the CEO of Australian digital satellite subscription TV provider Austar, which was bought by Foxtel in 2012.
His Linked In profile says he is a 'global citizen with American-Australian dual nationality' who has four children, presumably some of them based in Sydney.
Longhurst didn't want to discuss the purchasers, saying only that the owners were based overseas.
'It was only on the market for a week, but these buyers loved the location because it's walking distance from Woollahra village,' he said.
'It's definitely the highest price ever for a house without parking in Paddington/Woollahra and probably Australia.'
There's no doubting the charm and beauty of the incredible home, which records show was owned by hedge fund manager David Curtis and his wife Joan, who bought it for $5.65m in 2017.
Woollahra Council approved their $450k reno in 2020, which merges the classical Victorian front of the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home with a contemporary addition.
There was no possibility for off-street parking at the 291sqm block — it backs onto a public park.
Longhurst's had a string of big sales recently, including the $12.4m deal for Dr Andrew Goy's Bourke St, Surry Hills warehouse (the old Labor club) which was a new suburb record for Surry Hills.
He's also recently broken a range of street records — nine this year he advises — including 49 Glenview St, Paddington which records show is owned by Joseph McGlennon, creative director at Doctor V Energy Drinks, and his wife Janet for $9.3m; and 302 Moore Park Rd, for $9.75m owned by Mirvac CEO and managing director Campbell Hanan.
The purchaser was Declan Boylan, founder of Seven Consulting.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Reigning horse of the year Pride Of Jenni to visit Yarraman Park stallion I Am Invincible this breeding season
Yarraman Park has confirmed that its three-time champion stallion I Am Invincible will be the first mating for reigning horse of the year Pride Of Jenni this breeding season. I Am Invincible, who will command a $220,000 service fee this season, leads this year's sires tables for both individual winners (180) and two-year-old stakes winners (5). He's the sire of champion sprinter Imperatriz and this year produced Vinrock, the winner of the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes in Sydney. It looks a match made in heaven with Pride Of Jenni, a winner of 10 races – including her dashing victory in the 2024 Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes – and more than $10 million in prizemoney. Pride Of Jenni's owner Tony Ottobre said in a Yarraman Park announcement that he was 'in awe' of what I Am Invincible had done in his stallion career so far. 'I did look at the top stallions that were already here and I Am Invincible came up as a really good cross with her line of Street Cry, but also the fact that it's doubling to a superstar broodmare, Eljazzi,' he said. 'Eljazzi being the mother of Rafha, being the mother of Invincible Spirit. And Eljazzi, who's the mother of Al Anood who's the mother Pride Of Dubai (Pride Of Jenni's sire).'
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
As the Indo-Pacific theatre heats up, Aussie tech stocks could get busier
Hegseth sounds the alarm on China, urges Indo-Pacific to arm up Vection and DroneShield score fresh defence deals Harvest Tech keeps videos connected as it wins contracts If Pete Hegseth's message to Asia was meant to be subtle, someone forgot to give him the memo. Standing before a room of generals, ministers and defence strategists at Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue last Friday, the US Defence Secretary didn't mince words. China, he warned, was 'credibly preparing' to invade Taiwan, and the region had to 'step up' before the future became a war zone. 'We do not seek to dominate or strangle China,' Hegseth said, 'but we will not be pushed out.' The Chinese delegation responded by calling the US the 'biggest troublemaker' in the region, and the tension there was unmistakable. Hegseth's call for a 'strong shield of deterrence' wasn't just aimed at generals, it was a note to the budget offices of Indo-Pacific governments. Australia, tucked firmly into the US's circle of friends, was also being nudged to firm up its position. Hegseth floated 5% of GDP as a starting point for defence budgets, and that kind of big money obviously needs somewhere to land. Vection scores as war games go digital For Australian companies that can offer technology to prepare for modern threats – whether that's better comms, AI, or secure simulation platforms – the next few years could be fertile ground. In the end, war may be uncertain, but preparation isn't. And tech that helps nations prepare smarter might just find itself centre stage, whether the battle ever comes or not. But defence contracts are hard-fought, highly regulated, and often slow to deliver. So when a company announces a fresh deal in defence, no matter the size, investors tend to sit up and take notice. Which is exactly what happened when Vection Technologies (ASX:VR1) announced a fresh $1 million defence contract on Monday. This Perth-born outfit is known for its work in XR, short for 'extended reality.' In plain English, that means it builds virtual environments that blend the digital world with the real one. This technology can be used in VR (virtual reality) training sessions for soldiers, 3D models of a battlefield, or even remote mission planning in a virtual room that looks just like the real thing. What used to be sci-fi is now very much on the defence department's radar. The latest deal was Vection's fourth contract with the same defence client (un-named), a clear sign there's trust building. More importantly, the client's hinted there's more work coming, so this might just be chapter one. Vection's INTEGRATED-XR platform is essentially a digital Swiss Army knife that combines AI, 3D visualisation, Internet of Things (IoT) and voice-command systems into one package. It's designed to help defence teams train smarter, plan faster, and make better decisions under pressure. You can simulate a rescue mission in VR, see live battlefield data mapped in 3D, or rehearse crisis responses before boots even hit the ground. Vection's pitch is simple: when lives are on the line, mistakes are expensive, and the best way to avoid them is to train like it's the real thing. Droneshield, Harvest Tech also strike wins But it's not just Vection making moves. DroneShield (ASX:DRO) had struck a big win earlier, landing a $32 million deal in April to supply counter-drone gear to a major Asia-Pacific military. The deal bundled five separate orders into one, all due for delivery this year; a strong sign that Aussie-made defence tech is moving past trials and into the rollout phase. Meanwhile, when the mission moves from planning to execution, especially in remote or high-risk locations, that's where another Aussie-listed company, Harvest Technology Group (ASX:HTG), comes in. Harvest's flagship product is called Nodestream, which is all about secure communication – streaming video, audio, and data from almost anywhere, even on tight bandwidth. Nodestream lets a team in the field, say, on a patrol boat or remote base, stream high-quality live video back to headquarters without needing a fat internet pipe. It compresses the data in real time, keeps it encrypted and secure, and still manages to deliver crisp, mission-critical info fast. Whether it's a drone feed, a helmet cam, or a sensor-packed vehicle, commanders will stay in the loop. In 2023, Harvest landed its first defence contract with a Five Eyes customer for its Nodestream technology. Fast forward to 2024, and HTG announced a follow-up, not just one, but two more orders from the same customer. The company also had other wins, including orders from the European Union Defence Force and new UK-based offshore contractors, plus a successful drone trial with Japan's Self-Defence Force. All these contracts show that Australian tech does have a seat at the defence table, especially now, as the Indo-Pacific gears up for what might be a more contested and complex future.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Live updates: Australian share market to rise ahead of first-quarter GDP data release, Wall Street higher
A rally on Wall Street is likely to send Australian stocks higher, while the Australian Bureau of Statistics is set to release the GDP figures for the March quarter at 11:30am AEST. Analyst forecasts suggest Australia's economy will grow in the range of 0.1 per cent to 0.3 per cent in the first three months of the year. We'll bring you the latest on what's happening on the markets throughout the day in our live blog. Disclaimer: this blog is not intended as investment advice.
