SYDNEY, Australia (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Influential Australian music moguls, the Jacobsen family, are preparing to divest the bulk of their assets to allow individual members to focus on their own projects in the face of legal pressure and what appear to be conflicts within the family.
According to the Sidney Morning Herald, Michael Jacboson Group founder Kevin Jacobsen said that "The family has come to an arrangement to sell off some of its assets."
The statement comes in the wake of rumors that there have been conflicts in the boardroom between family members.
"Anyone who thinks a partnership is perfect is living in a fantasyland and family disputes are heightened when commercial decisions are involved." Kevin's son Michael Jacobsen told the Herald.
According to the Herald, Michael will be stepping down from his post as Chairman and CEO of Jacobsen Arena Management which operates a number of major venues around Australia, including the Sydney Entertainment Center and the Vector Arena in New Zealand and hav also produced a number of major tours in Australia, including the Three Tenors, Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen and others.
The apparent internal strife comes at a time of increasing legal pressure on the family business. Michael Goldberg, the court-appointed receiver in the Jack Utsick/Worldwide Entertainment case is pursuing legal recourse as he seeks to recover $2 million from Kevin Jacobsen for a series of co-funded projects that Goldberg alleges that Jacobsen had agreed to with Utsick's companies but never delivered on.
Lawyers for the David Family have also initiated legal proceedings against Kevin Jacobsen and Jacobsen Holdings, seeking to recover $4 million in funds along with interest and penalties that the David family alleges is owed to them.
"This action reflects the extreme frustration felt by John David after his family provided substantial financial support to the Jacobsen family by way of loans in 2003. These were repayable at the expiration of two years, and by selling shares in a key Jacobsen company in March 2008. Despite patient negotiations and extensions of time for the repayment, no funds have been repaid since June 2008 leaving Mr David with no option but to pursue the matter through the courts." Lawyers representing the David family wrote in a statement.
A spokesman for Kevin Jacobsen responded, stating; "Kevin Jacobsen is deeply distressed by the action of his good friend John David and the David Family to commence legal proceedings against him and the companies Jacobsen Holdings Pty Ltd and Kevin Jacobsen Pty Ltd. Jacobsen Holdings Pty Ltd has the capacity to repay its debt immediately, but a Jacobsen family feud is preventing the release of funds which requires co-signatory agreement of Kevin Jacobsen’s co-directors: his brother Col Joye or his niece Amber Jacobsen." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
