Moelis and Johns Lyng’s CEO met at The Beach Hotel

There’s another element of it that raised eyebrows: PEP’s adviser on the deal is Moelis, an investment bank that rarely works with them.

So rare that in PEP’s 36 transactions dating back to 2015, it has tapped Moelis precisely once before. It was on the 2023 takeover of ASX-listed healthcare business Healthia.

The buyout specialists do spread the love. PEP has variously hit up Macquarie, UBS, Goldman and Citi. But why Moelis on this specific deal, one that is something like four times the size of the last time they were in PEP’s corner?

Two weeks ago, Didier was revealed as the buyer of The Beach Hotel in Byron Bay. He paid $140 million for the iconic beachside joint in an off-market transaction, which he said was a “personal investment”.

Didier was described in reports of the sale as a “prolific philanthropist”. But he’s also flash, and unorthodox.

He sold $25 million of Johns Lyng shares in 2022 to buy a huge house in Denver. He’s had staged photos taken next to his personal chopper at Essendon Airport. In February, Didier had a photo of a young executive assistant on the front-page of Johns Lyng’s 1H results presentation alongside his top executives (for some inexplicable reason).

But who sold The Beachy to Didier? Moelis did. It manages the Redcape Fund, which bought the hotel for $104 million in 2020.

So while Johns Lyng was having takeover talks with PEP (which formally began on April 11), its CEO and largest shareholder was also negotiating a stunning off-market deal with the bank working as the suitor’s unlikely advisers.

How did Moelis find its way into the hands of PEP? Has Moelis helped Didier fund the pub purchase, perhaps through one of its vaunted private credit funds?

A spokesman for Moelis denied it. Still, all this has got people wondering, particularly as Didier has already signalled his intention to remain with PEP if Johns Lyng gets taken private.

Still, not revealing the mooted takeover price to Johns Lyng shareholders is the main farce. Seriously, where’s the ASX compliance department?

Johns Lyng’s chairman Peter Nash sits on three other boards. By sheer dumb luck, one of them is the ASX! Nash chairs the market operator’s audit and risk committee.