CFOs Divorce Emails, Tax Stunt Backlash, Mansion Dilemma

Welcome to The Group Chat with Lucy Manly, where Australia's most trusted society insider shares the hottest gossip before it makes the news.

'Chaos' exec's marriage breakdown

The corporate world is a funny old place. You'd think the high-powered executive who (allegedly) totalled his BMW and then (allegedly) refused two breath tests would be the big story of the moment – especially given he has a hot date at Waverley Local next week.

But that's not the case. For those in the know, the spotlight of scandal has shifted from TPG Capital's Australian boss Joel Thickins to his former mate and fellow C-suite hellraiser Rob Speedie.

While Speedie isn't before the courts, the former Novotech CFO's confidential multimillion-dollar workplace dispute is considered far more explosive at the top end of town.

You see, Speedie has supposedly alleged a culture of hard partying and boozing at TPG in a series of damning leaked texts to a workplace lawyer. Understandably, this has left some powerful men feeling a little hot under the collar.

Speedie exited Novotech – which has been primarily held by TPG since 2017 – under a cloud last year after reports of a medical episode during a meeting connected to the sale of a major stake in the clinical trials business to Singaporean investment giants GIC and Temasek.

He later underwent treatment for executive burnout.

What hasn't been reported – but what insiders maintain is a key component of the Speedie story – is that as his career at Novotech spiralled, his personal life was also unravelling.

The father-of-four split from his second wife, former JPMorgan managing director Annabelle Mooney, following his departure from Novotech.

The Group Chat has it on exceptional authority that it was an acrimonious break-up, with the marriage under considerable strain long before its eventual breakdown.

Emails exchanged in December 2024 paint a bitter portrait of love gone wrong.

Mooney told her husband that she felt unloved and abandoned, while expressing concerns about trust and the future of their union.

Speedie pushed back, denying he was solely responsible for their marital problems.

He warned their finances were more fragile than Mooney realised and cautioned that any hostile divorce proceedings could carry serious legal and financial consequences for them both.

Thickins and wife Celina snapped up this South Coogee home for $14.75million when they moved from Melbourne to Sydney - allegedly at her insistence