The Australian Financial ReviewWeekend 5-6 May 2001 � www.afr.com26 Perspective

Rodney Adler is atthe crossroads ofhis career andpersonal life. Inthe past 12months, the 41-year-old former

Mr FAI has seen his estimatedwealth of $85 million slump.

Adler, the one-time insuranceboss now turned venturecapitalist, agrees he hasfinancially spread himself too thin.

The price of One.Tel, inwhich he owns 10 millionshares, has nosedived. His bankbalance, like those of so manyother Sydney and Melbournehigh-flyers, was burned in thetechnology crash. He was oneof the sector’s biggest backers.

His powerful circle ofbusinessmen friends –including Jodee Rich, AndrewKroger and James Packer – hashelped Adler become one of thebest-known players in Sydney’sblue chip circles, and they stillsupport him. But some justwish he would keep his damnedhead down in the midst of theTitanic-style collapse of HIHInsurance.

Adler is inextricably tied toHIH Insurance, which is thesubject of a scalp-huntinginvestigation by the AustralianSecurities & InvestmentsCommission.

Adler sold FAI Insurances for$300 million to HIH in 1998and was a non-executivedirector of the company untillate February. FAI has beenpartly blamed for HIH’s billion-dollar-plus collapse andquestion marks remain overwhether HIH was tradinginsolvently. The statement ofKPMG, the liquidator of HIH,so far, has said that each of themajor insurance licence-holding companies within theHIH group were “clearlyinsolvent”.

But Adler is not listening tomates’ advice and told The AFRWeekend Edition: “I don’t haveto put myself in a little hole. Ilost my podium being FAI, butI’m building my next podiumbeing Adler Corporation.”

Friends say it’s that sort ofarrogance that saw Adlerrecently pick a very public spatwith the Liberal Party. Thegloves came off after Adlerwrote in a website column thatJohn Howard was “dead”politically. Adler said hethought it was necessary tospeak out after beingdisappointed with the PrimeMinister’s comments that thedrop in the currency was not sorelevant.

But his comments gotSydney talkback radio king andarch conservative Alan Joneshopping mad, as well asinfuriating Liberal Partypowerbroker and former NSW

minister Michael Yabsley.“I will say that I’m so

incredulous that he’s done thisat this time,” said Yabsley. “Ifelt that what Rod said wasfundamentally flawed.”

Adler, who calls himself atrue blue Liberal supporter andfeatures on the NSW partydonations list, is never far fromcontroversy.

Ironically, he isuncomfortable with anypersonal scrutiny. But withsuch headline-grabbingstatements which refer to aprime minister as “politically

dead”, it’s no wonder the well-heeled gossips in Sydney’seastern suburbs have beenfeasting on his misfortunes.

Adler’s high public profile isnot surprising given he wasonly 29 when he was thrust intothe limelight after the death ofhis father from a heart attack.Larry Adler’s death, in 1988,brought to an end the rags-to-riches story of the Hungarianmigrant taxi driver turned self-made multi-millionaire whobuilt FAI from scratch.

Few would have envied Adleras he muddled through tryingto rescue FAI’s disabledbalance sheet post the 1987crash. FAI had been a lender oflast resort to many of the ’80shigh-flying entrepreneurs, suchas Alan Bond and GeorgeHerscu. It was because of Bondthat FAI came to own a coalmine, brewery and New York’sSt Moritz Hotel as Adler tookon the Perth businessman’sassets to cancel his debt.

No amount of trainingprepared Adler for thatalthough it did start at an earlyage with Larry taking his son toboard meetings where heplayed under the table. Later,not wanting to use an intercom,his father would just bash onthe office wall when he wantedhis son’s presence.

T hose who knew father andson describe them ashighly intelligent, witty,

motivated and tough. Hisfather’s attributes of patienceand street cunning are possiblywhat Adler now needs most.

Adler admits things aredifficult. “I think one of thecriticisms that I would have ofmyself right now is that I amtoo diversified,” he says. “Ihave too many interests andthese last nine months havebeen very hard for AdlerCorporation. Because of HIHand my shareholding in it, andwith the drop in the One.Telshare price, which has been aconsiderable loss in net assetsto me, and with the general fallin the technology market whereI was a big player, it has clearlyhurt my balance sheet.”

However, Adler emphasisesthat there are no cashflowproblems.

He still has 10 million sharesand 2.5 million options inOne.Tel, that have dropped inpaper value by at least $6 million in the past year. Hequit as a director of thecompany on April 12.

Jodee Rich – who runsOne.Tel and went to schoolwith Adler at Cranbrook, inBellevue Hill – declined to talkto the AFR.

A dler’s technologyinvestments ranged fromstart-ups such as NetX to

the revamp of MedicineQuantale. Then there wasTinShed, a technology angelfund that had backers such asAdler, Packer and advertisingguru John Singleton. TinShedwas as much about riding thetechnology tsunami as keepingAdler connected to thosepowerful business circles in hislife post-FAI.

Also chewing up Adler’searnings have been a myriad ofcash-hungry investments,ranging from a stake in amarina at Airlie Beach inQueensland, an investment inthe now defunct Sydney Stormbaseball team, to backingpopular CBD business diningrestaurant Banc.

Banc is one of Adler’swinning investments, havingscored accolades as a leadingSydney restaurant. He sharesthat investment with Stan Sarris,who also came to him with theproposition. Together they ownGPO, Wine Banc and Mint.

“If he likes the people hegoes with it,” says Sarris ofAdler’s investment decisions.“What he’s done in the last 15to 20 years is remarkable; he’sjust got that spark and energy.”

Of course, Adler would notlike to be remembered forHooters, touted as a restaurantfeaturing buxom girls, andlaunched several years ago. Itdid not deliver much of a returnon Adler’s minor shareholdingand, after a year, he exited.Hooters does show, however,that Adler is not averse tomixing his name with a littlecontroversy.

Rodney Adler’sannus horribilis

Rodney Adler, heir to the

FAI fortune, is having a

tough year. His links with

the HIH disaster are

tarnishing his business

reputation and his public

criticism of John Howard

has earned him

powerful enemies.

Anne Hyland profiles a

man who evokes very

mixed emotions.

‘I think one of thecriticisms that Iwould have of myselfright now is that I am too diversified. Ihave too manyinterests and theselast nine months havebeen very hard forAdler Corporation’

The Australian Financial ReviewWeekend 5-6 May 2001 � www.afr.com 39

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portfolio Wayne FitzgibbonStrategies & confessions of the market’s professional investors

photo : Mayu Kanamori

Simon Hoyle

Wayne Fitzgibbon, an executive director atMacquarie Bank, heads the cash, fixed interestand currency team at Macquarie FundsManagement Group, and also leads theeconomics team. Fitzgibbon and his team of 14portfolio managers and analysts manage morethan $16 billion in cash, Australian and globalfixed interest and currency. Macquarie FundsManagement was recently named MorningstarAustralian Fixed Interest Fund Manager of theYear for 2000. In his free time, Fitzgibbonenjoys reading modern history and politics,travelling, and watching his son and daughterplay sport.

Cash and fixed interest are asset classes inwhich it’s notoriously difficult to add value,relative to a benchmark. Is it reasonable toexpect a manager to be able to do soconsistently?Yes. Investors should expect to get consistentvalue added. And the long-term track record ofactive cash and fixed interest managers atteststo this. The idea that it’s hard to add value is arelatively recent one and is based on theexperience of the past few years. I doubt thisperiod will be a good guide to how well managersdo in future years.

These asset classes are also regarded asboring compared with the perceived glamour ofequity markets. Do you agree?When you’ve seen a bull market in equities likethe one we’ve had for the past 10 or so years,anything except shares looks ‘‘boring’’. Withnominal returns so low in Australia comparedwith the past, it’s understandable investorsfind it difficult to get excited about fixedinterest. Yet the fact remains that everyinvestor should hold some fixed interest toensure they have sufficient diversification intheir portfolio – both to counter fluctuations inthe sharemarket and because the various fixedinterest sectors provide good returns, over thelong term. Fixed interest managers have to beon top of global developments and therealways seems to be a lot happening, withcurrency in the limelight in recent times, as faras Australian investors are concerned. Notmany people realise that the Australian fixedinterest market is only closed between 7.30amand 8.30am and from 4.30pm to 5.10pm.Between this, and the demands of coveringinternational fixed interest and currencymarkets, we run a 24-hour operation.

How have the markets you invest in changedover the past five years, and what extra skillshave you, and other fund managers generally,needed to develop to cope?The growth in the corporate debt market hasbeen the biggest change. We identified this trendearly and did a lot of research on how to managecorporate debt. In particular, we used S&P’sglobal default study to help us make estimates offair value for companies of varying credit quality.We also hired a credit specialist with over 14years’ experience. And we travelled a lot, forging

strong relationships with overseas corporatedebt managers. The end result is reflected in ourconsistently strong performance in this area. Wefocus on value, not yield, and as a result havemanaged to avoid all of the disasters.

Macquarie manages a range of cash and fixedinterest products. How do you hold togethersuch diversity of investment styles within theone investment house?The Macquarie investment philosophy, whichapplies across our full range of asset classes, isbased on understanding the fundamentalfactors that drive structural change and pricemovement in markets, rather than taking anysingle interpretation of how markets operate.Since different factors drive different markets,our investment processes for each particularmarket focus on analysing those particularfactors. For example, our Australian fixedinterest process incorporates four distinctprocesses. We have a duration managementprocess, a yield curve process, a sector rotationprocess and a stock selection process. Ourglobal bond process also has two distinctcomponents, one for bonds and one forcurrency. Our unifying philosophy in all cases is

that asset prices are determined by investorexpectations about the future. Predicting howthese expectations will change is the key toadding value for Macquarie’s clients.

What’s more important: the people or process?A process is a discipline: it provides the linkbetween idea generation and investmentdecisions. You need people to generate theideas. It’s essential to have a talented team ofpeople and it’s essential to have a disciplinedprocess. The two are equally important.

What has been your best investment callprofessionally?In early 1995, bond yields were over 10 per centbecause the market believed inflation was aserious threat and that the Reserve Bank wouldcontinue raising the official cash rate. Wethought inflation had peaked, we expected theeconomy to slow and felt that the monetarypolicy tightening cycle was at an end, all of whichproved to be correct. The economic assessmentwhich underpinned this view was the world hadchanged and the traditional relationship betweengrowth and inflation had broken down. This oneidea was the cornerstone of all our decisions for

years and allowed us to deliver to clients threeyears of very strong performance.

And personally?Avoiding the tech stock thing. My economictraining kept telling me there were no barriers toentry, no sustainable comparative advantageand that companies had to actually make a profitto be worth anything.

What has been your worst investment call,professionally?Buying the Aussie dollar at US60¢. It seemedway overdone at the time. Unfortunatelyeconomic fundamentals don’t always mean a lotin the foreign exchange market – overseasinvestors have not been attracted to $A assets,bonds, equities or property. That is what mostcommentators have missed. These days thelevel of currency is determined by what ishappening in asset markets, not by what ishappening in the economy.

And personally?Selling Macquarie Bank shares some years agoat around $6. Oops!

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The Australian Financial ReviewWeekend 5-6 May 2001 � www.afr.com38

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Smart Funds

Assirt gives Credit Suisse top marksreport Simon Hoyle

It is not hindered by any old-style,inefficient products nor by outdatedIT and administration systems.

A review of Credit SuisseAssetManagement’soperation has led to

research firmAssirt assigning‘‘investment-grade’’ ratings tothe manager’s entire range ofinvestment products.Assirt has assigned its

highest possible five-starrating to CSAM’sinternational share funds andfour-star ratings to all ofCSAM’s Australian share,Australian fixed interest, cash,capital growth, high growthand universal share funds.As an entity, Assirt rated

Credit Suisse as ‘‘very strong’’in the areas of ownership,business management andcapital adequacy, and assessedits international share abilitythe same way.CSAMoutsources its

international sharemanagement to CapitalInternational.

‘‘Assirt was impressed withCapital’s stock selectioncapabilities, which is anoutcome of experiencedportfolio managers andanalysts with excellent researchcapabilities,’’ says Fiona Rossi-Mel, the Assirt analystresponsible for the CreditSuisse review.

‘‘Capital’s process is basedon a global and diversified

approach, delivering strongperformance over a variety ofmarket conditions, which isrelatively rare in this asset class.

‘‘While portfolio managersoperate autonomously, there isa strong team-based culturemitigating any reliance on anyone individual. In addition,Capital is employee-ownedwhich is positive for teamstability.’’Assirt assessed CSAM’s

capabilities in Australian

equities, Australian fixedinterest and cash as strong, andits capabilities in listed propertyand international fixed interestas competent.However, Assirt said:

‘‘Although [Credit Suisse] haveperformed very well overall at asector level, Assirt has ratedasset allocation as weak.

‘‘This assessment of assetallocation stems from tacticalasset allocation capabilities.The strategic asset allocation,on the other hand, is consideredvery well structured withsensible sector constraints inplace.’’Assirt rates three aspects of

fundmanagers’ operations:❏ The fundmanagementcompany itself.❏ Themanager’s ability tomanage money on an assetclass-by-asset class basis.❏ Individual investmentproducts.However, it issues star ratings

only to funds, not to managersthemselves.In its CSAM rating report,

Assirt says the manager beganits operations in 1990 and now

has more than $18.5 billion offunds under management.

‘‘Globally, the investmentmanagement groupmanagesover $542 billion,’’ it says.Assirt points out that Credit

Suisse is ‘‘a new breed ofmanager with no legacyproblems to overcome’’,meaning that it is not hinderedby any old-style, inefficientproducts, nor by outdated orclumsy IT and administrationsystems.

‘‘Entry into the retail marketbegan inMarch 1999,’’ Assirtsays. ‘‘On the back ofdemonstrated strength in thewholesale market, CSAMhas

been one of the fewmanagersthat has successfully penetratedthe retail market.

‘‘CSAMhas been able tooffer a clear, well thought outrange of wholesale and retailproducts. The products aretailored to suit investorsseeking very high volatility/growth potential, right down toproducts suited to investorswith relatively low risk/growthand income requirements.

‘‘Consistent strongperformance across all assetclasses matched with strongproduct design has resulted invery sound sector anddiversified funds.’’Themanaging director of

Assirt, KrystynaWeston, saysCredit Suisse’s investment style‘‘has been clearly identifiedacross all asset classes’’.

‘‘The process at CSAM isconsistently applied,transparent and stronger thanany one individual,’’ Westonsays.

‘‘There is strong depth andcompetency amongstinvestment professionals andteam stability has beenexcellent.

‘‘It is pleasing to see starperformers and ‘egos’ are notencouraged. Succession plansare evident and youngeranalysts are well trained formore senior roles as they gainexperience.’’

JB Were wins status as ‘very good’ fund manager

Michael Clarke says the upgrading reflects the time, money and effort JB Were has injected. Photo : Peter Braig

report Simon Hoyle

Melbourne-based JBWere InvestmentManagement has beenupgraded to a four-starfundmanager by

research groupMorningstar,putting it on a par with AMPHendersonGlobal Investors,Merrill Lynch InvestmentManagers, MLC andRothschildAustralia AssetManagement.The upgrading from three to four

stars, effective April 30, follows afull qualitative review of JBWere byMorningstar earlier this year.Four stars denotes a manager

which is, inMorningstar’s opinion,a very good quality manager. Thechief executive officer of JBWereInvestmentManagement,MichaelClarke, says the upgrading reflectsthe time, money and effort thecompany has put into beefing up itsinvestment management, marketingand administrative capabilities.He says the process of

improvement in these areas isongoing, and achieving anupgrading doesn’t mean themanager can ease back.

‘‘Weneed to continue investing inthe administration side, in terms ofpeople and systems,’’Clarke says.‘‘Plans are in place to do that. And atthe same time, we need to continue tofocus on the quality of our product.’’But he says investors can draw

comfort from the fact they will nowbe ‘‘dealing with a ‘very good’manager, not just a ‘good’manager’’.Morningstar says that overall, JB

Were has a greater proportion of itstotal product range rated four starthan the average manager, and alesser proportion rated one or twostars. ‘‘Themajority of JBWere’sfunds under management are in

‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ qualityfunds,’’ Morningstar says.

‘‘Seventy-three per cent of JBWere’s funds under management isin four or five-star funds atMarch31, 2001, compared to the average35 per cent [for other managers].’’One areawhere JBWere has

improved significantly is in corporatestrength. This is ameasure of theresources available to the fundmanagement entity, the commercialstrength of themanager itself, themanager’s parent company (if any)and its marketing and distribution

subsidiaries± all necessary tosupport the effective design,management and distribution ofmanaged fund products.Although the rating remains

below average,Morningstar says theunderlying trend in this area hasimproved from very negative topositive. ‘‘JBWere’s corporatestrength rating increased from 4.99out of 10 at 31 December 2000, to6.84 out of 10 at 31 January 2001,’’Morningstar says.

‘‘The substantial increase in thecorporate strength rating has a

major effect on theMorningstarStar Ratings for JBWere’s funds,and ultimately for JBWere itself.The corporate strength ratingaccounts for 25 per cent of a fund’s[qualitative] rating, which in turnmakes up half a fund’sMorningstarStar Rating.’’The rating firm says JBWere has

‘‘clarified reporting structures andreorganised the business, whiledoubling staff numbers to facilitateaggressive plans for rapid expansionin funds under management’’.One of the intriguing things about

how fund ratings± includingMorningstar’s± are structured isthat a manager can actually suffer afall in the quality of one or moreaspects of its operations, yet receivea higher overall rating.A case in point is JBWere’s

administration and distributionrating, which fell from 8.96 out of 10at the end of December± an above-average score± to 5.67 out of 10 inthe latest review± awell belowaverage score.This was due mostly to a change

detected byMorningstar in theunderlying trend, but clearly theproblemwas not so great as toadversely affect JBWere’s overallmanager rating.Perhaps more importantly, the

manager’s investment managementrating declined, again largely due toa change in the underlying trendfrom very positive to positive.Morningstar says themanager is

‘‘improving its investment processes,enhancing the stock researchdatabase and riskmanagement tools,and developing a strong internationalequities alliance, and althoughsystems require furtherenhancements, the long-awaitedimprovements to the investmentcompliance infrastructure areexpected to be operational in 2001’’.The fundmanager’s overall sector

strength ratings± its ability tomanage money in the various assetclasses± improved slightly from8.01 out of 10 to 8.51 out of 10.

‘‘JBWere’s asset allocationprocess has a clear focus onfundamentals, that is adding valuewhileminimising transaction costs,enhanced by quantitative and riskmanagement techniques developed in2000, although documentation andcompliance are yet to achieve bestpractice,’’Morningstar says.

The Australian Financial ReviewWeekend 5-6 May 2001 � www.afr.com Perspective 27

Close business associateBrad Cooper said if Adler’sfingers were in too manyinvestment pies it wasbecause of his generosity.(Adler backed Cooper manyyears ago when Cooperapproached him with a planto establish FAI HomeSecurity.)

Others, however, sayAdler’s generosity isqualified by the fact that henever does a deal unlessthere’s something substantialin it for him. Some point outthat much of the money usedto support such businessescame from FAI, rather thanAdler himself.

“He’s a softie for a goodstory and he likes to believein the people,” says Cooper.

But the downturn ofCooper’s business has alsosoured his relationship withAdler in the past year.

“You are hard on thoseyou like the most,” saysCooper.

“It’s been strained,unpleasant, sad, tough – allthat stuff is true. We had 10great years and in one badyear you don’t forget the 10.Rod’s been a mate for me.”

HIH, however, remains thethorn in Adler’s side. Adlersays it has tarnished hisbusiness reputation in somecircles.

Binding Adler even moreto the HIH debacle are thecircumstances in which atrust – funded by HIH andmanaged by a vehicle thatAdler controlled – boughtand sold shares in HIH lastyear.

No wrongdoing has beensuggested and HIH had norole in relation to the trust’sinvestments; but the curiousarrangement has stillattracted inquiries by ASIC.

One of Adler’s loyal

friends said his actions hadbeen “foolish”. “Rod’s beencompletely stupid,” said thefriend who insisted onanonymity.

“The insurance company’scollapsed . . . he just seemsto ignore sensible advice tokeep your head down. He’sgot his shortcomings like all of us.

“On the financial fronthe’s probably a little bit tightbecause he’s gone into a fewventure capital things.”

Adler’s personalinvestments are almost aseclectic as his commercialones. They include: thepurchase of a $11.5 million30-bedroom convent,Kilmory, with adjacent 64-room dormitory at PointPiper in 1999; his father’ssilver Rolls-Royce; an artcollection, and a collectionof letters from 1914 betweenEinstein and his fiancee.

H owever, for JeffHerscu, son of theproperty baron

George, there’s a feeling ofdeja vu about the Adler hardluck story. In 1989, Adlerforced the Herscus intobankruptcy calling inpayment on the $2.1 millionwhich they owed.

“We owed quite a lot moreto other banks and he wasthe one who was going reallygung-ho,” says Herscujunior. “He said he wasdoing it [bankrupting us] forhis shareholders. Have a lookwhat he’s done for hisshareholders now!”

Herscu, who attendedAdler’s wedding in 1987,predicts Adler’s presentsituation may be more a caseof “what goes around, comesaround” rather than plain oldbad luck.

Former Coles Myerexecutive chairman SollyLew told the AFR that hehad nothing good to sayabout Adler. The bad bloodbetween Lew and Adlerdates back to FAI sub-underwriting a $100 million convertiblepreference share issue byLew’s company, Premier.

The share issue in 1990was to raise equity capital tocover Lew’s purchase ofmore Coles Myer shares.Adler and Lew had agreedthat despite the fullunderwriting of the issue,FAI’s exposure would onlybe limited to $60 million.

The issue was a disasterand FAI was left footing thebill for $99.4 million of the$100 million issue. Monthsof stinging letters betweenthe two men, where Adleraccused Lew of welching onthe deal and each called intoquestion the other’s honour,were finally resolvedthrough the birth of thecontroversial companyYannon.

FAI eventually got all itsfunds back. But the odioussituation has left the twomen loathing each other. Itonly illustrates, again,Adler’s knack for getting

himself into tangles thatseem to eventually work out.

Garry Weiss, director ofGuinness Peat Group, hasalso chosen to keep hisdistance from the youngwheeler-dealer. Privately, heis highly critical of Adler.

University friend andventure capitalist AlbertWong, of Barton Capital,says he has not heard that

Adler is facing toughfinancial or personalproblems. And he points outthat anyone in the brokingor corporate financeindustry is finding it toughwith the present sharemarketperformance. Beingfinancially comfortable, ofcourse, really depends onthe style to which anindividual may beaccustomed.

Wong describes Adler as“an inherent entrepreneur”.“It’s in his blood,” he says.“He just can’t help himselfwith a deal and he’s got hisfingers in so many pies.”

P erhaps Adler’s biggestfaux pas was criticisingthe Prime Minister in

April, in a new column titledThe Rocket on TheAustralian’s financialwebsite. He wrote: it was“unfortunately clear, JohnHoward is dead politically”.

He is now persona nongrata with the Liberal Partyand Yabsley was left toexplain, in a series of bitingletters, that now was not thetime for Adler to be stickinghis head up.

A letter from Alan Jonesput it more bluntly. Hesuggested Adler was anunsuitable candidate to belecturing the Prime Ministeron economic management inpresent circumstances, areference to the collapse of HIH.

If the Liberals win thisyear’s election they will bepresiding over ASIC, whichmay refer HIH to theDirector of PublicProsecutions.

Adler accepts the criticismby Jones and Yabsley, butsays he could not sit backand be quiet.

“The Liberal Party, myparty – the party that I dobelieve in, that I have notwalked away from – is goingdown a track that I don’tagree with,” he says. “Justbecause I happen to havesold my company to HIHthree years ago, and thenHIH went into provisionalliquidation, doesn’t mean Ishould stop doing what Ibelieve is right.”

As Adler stands up to takeon such criticism, it mightbe expected that his familyis strongly behind him. Butthere is a rift in the extendedAdler family that disappointshis mother Ethel, whoprefers to be known asBobby. Both Adler’s sisters,Roxanne and Kathy, andKathy’s husband GregShand, are estranged fromAdler. When contacted,Roxanne would notcomment on the reasons forthe rift.

“I have no comment exceptto say my sister and I haveminimal contact with him. Iwould like to get across thatit does not arise from the saleof FAI or any drop in theshare price,” she says.

The divide on Adler bothin financial and personalcircles is stark. NickSelvaratnam, analyst withGoldman Sachs, believes itlies with Adler’s willingnessto take a punt, which can beviewed as a strength orweakness. “I would’ve saidif there’s a weakness, it ispeople don’t like his style,that he can’t but help take apunt. He’s a punter bynature.”

Adler believes he isresponsible for the polarisedresponse people have to him.

“I am arrogant,” he says.“I’m very black and white.Either I really like a personor I don’t. Either I thinkthey’re very intelligent or Idon’t. I’m very staccato. I’mvery quick. I don’t likeprocrastinators. I had a lot ofresponsibility thrust on myshoulders very young andI’m very quick to makedecisions. I know the point Iwant to make.”

Some in business circlesare asking whether AdlerCorporation can be anotherFAI and give him a profile.Adler’s actions in thecoming months willcertainly determine thedirection he takes from thecrossroads at which he findshimself.

Friends and detractorsalike will be waiting to seewhether Adler continues tomake deals.

And, more importantly,whether or not he remains aSydney player.

Rainy days: Hisfather’s attributesof patience andstreet cunning arepossibly whatRodney Adler nowneeds the most.

‘The Liberal Party,my party – the partythat I do believe in,that I have notwalked away from –is going down atrack that I don’tagree with’

‘Rod’s beencompletely stupid.The insurancecompany’s collapsed. . . he just seemsto ignore sensibleadvice to keep yourhead down.’

photo | Virginia Star