David Coe (c.1954 – 21 January 2013) was an Australian businessman, best known for being the chairman and managing director of Allco Finance Group.

Career

Coe first worked as a lawyer at

Mallesons Stephen Jaques King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is the largest global law firm in Asia. It has 30 offices and more than 3,500 legal professionals in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Its predecessor firms include ''SJ Berwin'' of the United Kingdom's ...

during the 1970s, before John Kinghorn, the founder of RAMS Home Loans, asked him to join Allco in 1986. Coe was instrumental in Allco becoming one of the world's biggest providers of finance to the infrastructure and aviation sectors. Coe became known for his attempted takeovers of successful businesses, and unsuccessfully bid for Qantas Airline for a sum of $11.1 billion in 2006. In 2007 he oversaw the purchase by Allco of Gordon Fell's Rubicon Property Group, for $263 million. He and Fell were both directors of Allco, and Coe was a director of Rubicon. The Federal Court was later told that, eight months before its sale, Rubicon had commissioned a valuation from accountants

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

, which had estimated the worth of the company at between $74 million and $88 million, roughly a third of the price that Allco paid. Coe stepped down as chairman of Allco in early 2008, shortly before the company collapsed under $1.1 billion of debt. Although many described the failure as a result of the

2008 global financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

, others blamed the group’s complex structure and huge debt levels. After the downfall of Allco, Coe kept a lower profile, but remained involved in various business pursuits. Coe donated nearly $1 million to the

Sydney Children's Hospital Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, is an Australian children's hospital located in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. On 1 July 2010 it became part of the newly formed Sydney Children's Hospitals Network (Randwick and Westmead) ...

and served on the board of the hospital's charity foundation from 1997 to 2009. He was a prominent supporter of the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

in Sydney, and also served on its board.

Death

He died on 21 January 2013 of a suspected heart attack while skiing in Aspen, Colorado,

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and was survived by his wife Michelle and three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coe, David 1950s births 2013 deaths 20th-century Australian businesspeople 21st-century Australian businesspeople People named in the Paradise Papers Australian lawyers