Joel Thickins, head of private equity firm TPG Australia, has expanded his property portfolio with the acquisition of an office building formerly owned by public relations executive Roxy Jacenko. The transaction, completed recently, involves the purchase of Jacenko’s former premises located in the Sydney suburb of Paddington.

Thickins, who is currently serving a nine-month driving ban following a June incident in which he was involved in a five-car crash near Centennial Park, pleaded guilty in July to negligent driving and refusing a breath test in Waverley Local Court. Despite the controversy, TPG retained its confidence in him after engaging New York-based law firm Debevoise & Plimpton to investigate the circumstances of the accident.

Speculation in the private equity sector that Thickins might be preparing to exit his role was dispelled with the new property acquisition. Industry observers had misread the deal, as it aligns with his ongoing strategy of long-term investments via his family office. The purchase adds to a growing portfolio of assets managed through the family, which notably includes a recent collaboration involving his wife, Celina Thickins.

Last month, Celina Thickins partnered with the Drummond and McLeod families to acquire the historic Seppelt Wines label and related assets from Treasury Wine Estates. The acquisition extends to the purchase of the Drumborg vineyard near Portland, Victoria, under Stonier, a company involved in these transactions. The Thickins Family Office, established nearly ten years ago, also supports a diverse range of investments, including Scale, a venture capital fund focusing on early-stage, women-led technology companies. Scale counts backing from prominent figures such as Andrew and Nicola Forrest as well as the late fashion designer Carla Zampatti.

Meanwhile, Roxy Jacenko, who relocated to Singapore three years ago with her family, has shifted focus away from her Sydney-based public relations business, Sweaty Betty, which she built up at the Paddington location. Attention has recently turned to her husband, Oliver Curtis, following the unsuccessful attempt to list AI infrastructure company Firmus Technologies on the Australian Securities Exchange. The proposed $44 billion float aimed to support the development of modular artificial intelligence “factory pods” designed to expedite the construction of AI data centers.

Despite the float’s collapse, Firmus continues to pursue partnerships. Curtis was in Berlin to negotiate a funding agreement with Nvidia, the global graphics technology giant, which supports the project. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, described the pods as transformative for the AI data center industry during the Nvidia GTC conference. The initiative seeks to reduce the time required to deploy AI centers to just two weeks by shipping container-sized modular units.