Rich-lister Tim Roberts bails out of Mineral Resources’ in-house FIFO airline

[Pelican Press 0]

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Rich-lister Tim Roberts bails out of Mineral Resources’ in-house FIFO airline

Billionaire Tim Roberts, a friend and business associate of the beleaguered Chris Ellison, has exited his half stake of Mineral Resources’ private airline.

AVWest FIFO Pty Ltd, an entity wholly-owned by Mr Roberts, relinquished its 50 per cent holding in MinRes Air on October 3.

MinRes now has full control of the in-house airline, less than two months after it came to light that ownership was evenly split with Mr Roberts.

“AVWest provided advice and expertise during the formation of MinRes Air to assist in the commencement of operations. As we now have a highly experienced executive team in place, MinRes Air has transitioned to 100 per cent MinRes ownership,” a MinRes spokesman said.

The spokesman did not confirm or deny if Mr Roberts received any remuneration for his assistance.

It comes as Mr Roberts has been dragged into the financial misconduct scandal engulfing MinRes chief Mr Ellison that has savaged the lithium and iron ore miner’s share price.

The MinRes board will decide Mr Ellison’s fate by next Monday, following an external investigation into an alleged offshore tax evasion scheme he operated and other claims of wrongdoing.

This includes a report in the *********** Financial Review last week that in 2017 Halfway Bay Station Pty Ltd — a company owned by Mr Ellison and a New Zealand entity Mr Roberts controls — allegedly bought machinery from MinRes at significantly discounted rates to use at a luxury New Zealand farm estate.

Mr Roberts has rejected these allegations. The West *********** does not suggest Mr Roberts has engaged in any inappropriate conduct.

Halfway Bay Station Pty Ltd sold the waterfront estate for $27 million in 2022 but Mr Roberts, a former MinRes director, has also crossed paths with Mr Ellison in other business deals more recently.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Camera IconTim Roberts, former director of MinRes and Burswood Ltd, pictured leaving the Crown Royal Commission in 2021. Credit: Ian Munro/The West ***********

The West *********** revealed that Mr Roberts was among numerous fortunate investors in January to sell their stakes in Kali Metals for a hefty profit, just as MinRes emerged with a 14 per cent slice of the vaunted lithium explorer post-ASX listing. Mr Ellison himself holds a major stake in Kali.

Mr Ellison has touted MinRes Air as a way for the company to save “tens of millions of dollars a year” by flying its people to mine sites across the Pilbara and Goldfields more efficiently relative to commercial airlines.

He told The West *********** last month that Mr Roberts was someone he had known “for a long time” and was brought into the MinRes Air tent due to his industry expertise.

“Tim understands the aviation business, and he’s the one that’s really been the leader in being able to pull it (MinRes Air) together,” Mr Ellison said.

“Things like understanding the best aircraft that suit the roles that we’ve got, being able to understand the right sort of people we need that will fit the culture that we’ve put together, getting the right management wrapped around it . . . he’s been pretty amazing and has done it very quickly.”

MinRes Air started to transport workers to certain mine sites in July. The airline currently has two Airbus planes in its fleet that are ultimately being leased from third-party firms. There are no apparent direct links between Mr Roberts and these firms.

Mr Roberts did not respond to requests for comment.

The Cottesloe-based Mr Roberts became a billionaire when he and his siblings in 2007 sold a controlling interest in construction company Multiplex, following the ****** of their father John.

Mr Roberts used a chunk of his windfall to start a private charter jet company — AvWest — in Perth.

He was embroiled in a bitter legal battle with Bombardier in 2018 over claims the ********* jet giant reneged on 15 deals.

AVWest bought more than $US3 billion of new and used aircraft from Bombardier.

Mr Roberts was also formerly a director of Burswood Ltd, which operated the Crown Casino in Perth.

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