Billionaire told to defend Rubicon case in person

By CHRIS DANIELS

Mysterious billionaire hedge fund owner Richard C. Perry has been ordered to appear in a New Zealand court if he wants to defend himself against charges of hiding a secret Rubicon shareholding.

High Court judge Justice Barry Paterson, in a reserved decision published yesterday, has rejected an application from Perry Corporation for its top executives, including its chairman and owner Richard Perry, to give evidence from their New York headquarters.

Perry and two of his top executives must now fly to this country for next month's civil trial, centred on GPG's claims that they deliberately hid a 15 per cent stake in locally listed firm Rubicon.

GPG, which bought 19 per cent of Rubicon in a night raid in early July, had its influence counteracted later that week by Perry, which announced it had increased its shareholding from 4.9 per cent to just under 17 per cent.

GPG lawyer Richard Craddock, QC, told the High Court last Friday that Rubicon chief executive Luke Moriarty told his own board of directors on many occasions that Perry was a 15 per cent shareholder, despite Perry all along claiming that it owned less than 5 per cent.

No mention is made of Perry Corporation being a shareholder in the Rubicon annual report.

Perry lawyer Michael Camp, QC, told the court there was no need for the chairman, managing director and head of trading for a US$7 billion ($14.8 billion) fund manager to come here for the case.

There was no reason that GPG could not conduct its case and cross-examine witnesses over a video link. One of the men asked to give evidence had recently had hernia surgery, and the partner of another was about to have a baby.

Lawyers for Perry Corporation, Phillips Fox, yesterday refused to comment on the application or on Paterson's decision.

GPG has already won a High Court injunction banning Perry Corporation from selling its nearly 16 per cent Rubicon stake, which it bought for $27 million.

In his decision, Paterson said: "On GPG's allegation of a collateral undertaking or agreement, credibility is an essential factor.

"The success or otherwise of GPG's proceeding is very likely to depend on the judge's assessment of the New York witnesses.

"Their evidence, which is likely to take several days, will be crucial.

"They are the witnesses who will give the evidence of what was in the corporate mind of Perry Corp."

Referring to arguments that having the top Perry executives come to New Zealand would be inconvenient, Paterson said that while he agreed it would be inconvenient, there had been no evidence to show by just how much.

"Perry Corp is a party because it has become involved in security transactions in this country," the judge said.

"It has submitted itself to New Zealand law and as such is subject to the normal rules of the country's judicial system.

"An incident of this is the need to attend court cases where appropriate."