Christopher Skase

Christopher Skase, 52, a fugitive businessman wanted on criminal charges in Australia relating to the collapse of his Qintex empire, died Sunday of stomach cancer on the Spanish island of Majorca. Skase was wanted in his native Australia on more than 30 criminal charges relating to the $775-million collapse of his media and entertainment holdings.

Christopher Skase, 52, a fugitive businessman wanted on criminal charges in Australia relating to the collapse of his Qintex empire, died Sunday of stomach cancer on the Spanish island of Majorca. Skase was wanted in his native Australia on more than 30 criminal charges relating to the $775-million collapse of his media and entertainment holdings.

Christopher Skase is no Rupert Murdoch--not in background and certainly not in name recognition. But with his deal last Friday to buy most of the assets of MGM/UA Communications, Skase is preparing to follow in the famous media baron's tracks to become the second Australian to take over a major Hollywood movie studio. The 40-year-old Skase is the majority shareholder of Brisbane-based Qintex Group, which boasts $2 billion of assets in resorts and television broadcasting and programming.

A judge Tuesday ordered the arrest of former Australian media millionaire Christopher Skase, whose dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie mogul crumbled last year. Brisbane District Court Judge Ian Wylie ordered the arrest of Skase for failure to appear in court Monday. He was due to give evidence in a liquidator's examination of failed shipbuilding company Lloyds Ships Holdings, an associate of Skase's Qintex Australia Ltd. His lawyer said he was in Barcelona, Spain.

BARBRA STREISAND closed escrow last week on the former Richard Harris home in the Beverly Hills post office area. Title was taken in the name of a trust to benefit the actress, said realtors not involved in the nearly $6-million deal. The house was sold by John Donnelly, described as the British actor's "front man." Neither Stephen Shapiro, president/partner of Stan Herman & Associates, who represented the seller, nor Juan Alvarez of Alverez, Hyland & Young, who represented the buyer, would comment.

Christopher Skase, the 40-year-old Aussie who is buying MGM/UA Communications for $1 billion, said Friday that his path for resurrecting 70-year-old United Artists as a movie maker calls for "evolution, not revolution." UA, founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, has been dormant as a producer since MGM/UA folded its two production units into a single operation last fall. During the latter half of 1988, the studio was marked by wholesale departures of film-making talent assembled by Lee Rich, formerly MGM/UA's chief executive.

American media keep using "brash" to describe Australian financiers, including Christopher Skase. But the label just doesn't seem to fit this 40-year-old television broadcasting baron from Brisbane, who has one foot firmly in Hollywood. In an interview Tuesday, the sartorially exact Aussie came across as cautious and methodical, talking circumspectly about plans to expand his U.S. toehold by, oh, maybe $1 billion or $2 billion.

A judge Tuesday ordered the arrest of former Australian media millionaire Christopher Skase, whose dreams of becoming a Hollywood movie mogul crumbled last year. Brisbane District Court Judge Ian Wylie ordered the arrest of Skase for failure to appear in court Monday. He was due to give evidence in a liquidator's examination of failed shipbuilding company Lloyds Ships Holdings, an associate of Skase's Qintex Australia Ltd. His lawyer said he was in Barcelona, Spain.

True to Hollywood's and Wall Street's most cynical expectations, MGM/UA Communications Co.'s "irrevocable" sale to the Australian Qintex Group collapsed Tuesday amid rancorous accusations and a lawsuit by MGM/UA accusing the Australian firm of fraud. The $1.5-billion deal--amended twice over the course of seven months--came unglued after Qintex failed to deliver a $50-million letter of credit by Sept. 22 as promised.

Two prized coastal properties in Dana Point that are scheduled for resort development have been sold to an Australian entrepreneur for about $245 million. Christopher C. Skase, who burst upon the Southern California scene in March when his Qintex Group agreed to buy the United Artists movie studio, said Friday that he plans to build a "five-star integrated resort" on the two sites, known as Monarch Beach and the Dana Point headlands. The properties are less than a mile apart off Coast Highway.

At first, the reaction was bemusement, with references to Crocodile Dundee. Then, there was amazement as brash Australian investors began to conquer some of America's corporate giants, with the enthusiastic help of international bankers who financed their deals to the hilt. But now, the glory days of the charismatic, globe-trotting Aussie entrepreneur appear to be on the wane.

BARBRA STREISAND closed escrow last week on the former Richard Harris home in the Beverly Hills post office area. Title was taken in the name of a trust to benefit the actress, said realtors not involved in the nearly $6-million deal. The house was sold by John Donnelly, described as the British actor's "front man." Neither Stephen Shapiro, president/partner of Stan Herman & Associates, who represented the seller, nor Juan Alvarez of Alverez, Hyland & Young, who represented the buyer, would comment.

At first, the reaction was bemusement, with references to Crocodile Dundee. Then, there was amazement as brash Australian investors began to conquer some of America's corporate giants, with the enthusiastic help of international bankers who financed their deals to the hilt. But now, the glory days of the charismatic, globe-trotting Aussie entrepreneur appear to be on the wane.

Two prized coastal properties in Dana Point that are scheduled for resort development have been sold to an Australian entrepreneur for about $245 million. Christopher C. Skase, who burst upon the Southern California scene in March when his Qintex Group agreed to buy the United Artists movie studio, said Friday that he plans to build a "five-star integrated resort" on the two sites, known as Monarch Beach and the Dana Point headlands. The properties are less than a mile apart off Coast Highway.

Christopher Skase, the 40-year-old Aussie who is buying MGM/UA Communications for $1 billion, said Friday that his path for resurrecting 70-year-old United Artists as a movie maker calls for "evolution, not revolution." UA, founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, has been dormant as a producer since MGM/UA folded its two production units into a single operation last fall. During the latter half of 1988, the studio was marked by wholesale departures of film-making talent assembled by Lee Rich, formerly MGM/UA's chief executive.

Christopher Skase is no Rupert Murdoch--not in background and certainly not in name recognition. But with his deal last Friday to buy most of the assets of MGM/UA Communications, Skase is preparing to follow in the famous media baron's tracks to become the second Australian to take over a major Hollywood movie studio. The 40-year-old Skase is the majority shareholder of Brisbane-based Qintex Group, which boasts $2 billion of assets in resorts and television broadcasting and programming.