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Now, flush with a $3.3 billion windfall from the sale of his Crown Resorts stake, Packer said he is ready to return to the business world and is about to start work on an ambitious new resort in the Caribbean.
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“I like trying to build beautiful things, Andrew. That’s what I like trying to do,” he enthused, his buoyant mood a far cry from the despondent Packer Australia witnessed during his most recent public appearance – via video link – during the Bergin gaming inquiry in 2020.
Packer is developing the new US$500million ($733 million) resort in Barbuda alongside his friend, Hollywood legend Robert De Niro.
A flotilla of paparazzi following Packer’s superyacht around the Mediterranean this week was kept busy shooting photos of De Niro on IJE. Then it was the sighting of Brooklyn Beckham and his new wife Nicola Peltz aboard that guaranteed yet more photos of the Packer “tinnie”.
But out of the range of those long lenses, a deal was being cut below deck between Packer and De Niro, old friends who have holidayed together in Cuba. Packer said the men shared a love of politics and had mutual friends, including former Israeli spy-turned-film-maker Arnon Milchan and former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres.
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Packer said he and “Bob” had spent a “very productive 24 hours together” on IJE, and that he was “pleased to say” that “Barbuda is go”.
Packer and De Niro bought a derelict resort on Barbuda in 2015. After six years of planning and winning approval from local authorities, Packer said the project is finally on the starting blocks and about to get under way.
“Bob and I are going to build the best resort in the Caribbean together,” Packer said, confirming there would be no casino in the new development.
“We are going to build something unique and beautiful, and I believe Barbuda will also prove to be an excellent commercial development. I love being in business with Bob. He is a living legend.”
In a statement on the deal, two-time Academy Award-winner De Niro, 78, told the Herald: “Working with Jamie has always been the best of experiences. He’s a gentleman and always sensitive to the feelings of others, in the best sense. It’s an honour to work with him and be his partner.”
James Packer and Robert De Niro were also partners in Nobu Hospitality. At an event in 2015.Credit:Getty Images
Packer said the half-billion-dollar project would be branded as a Nobu resort, the same name as De Niro’s high-end global restaurant chain in which Packer invested $US100million. In 2015, he bought a 20 per cent stake in the business and opened outlets in his Crown Casino developments in Australia.
Packer and De Niro bought the dilapidated K Club on Barbuda in the same year, located in the eastern Caribbean just north of Antigua and regarded as one of the more underdeveloped areas of the region.
The K Club was also where the late Princess Diana holidayed – the resort’s beach renamed in her honour – with her young sons Princes William and Harry in April 1997, just months before she died in Paris.
Packer said he was confident both he and De Niro would “do well financially” out of the deal, but “more importantly … build something special.”
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