Antony William Paul Sage, known as Tony Sage (born 26 June 1960), is a Western Australian businessman who was also the owner of A-League football club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

Biography

Born in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, on 26 June 1960, Sage moved with his parents to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1969, residing first in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, then

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

before again moving to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with his mother and father in 1975. In 1978, he went to

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and enrolled at Churchlands College (now part of the

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Parliaments of the Australian states and territories, Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is, , t ...

) in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Finance) in 1980. He later became a Fellow of the Society of Certified Practising Accountants, a Chartered Accountant, and a Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia. He has three children.

Corporate interests

Mining and resources

In 1997 Sage formed the consulting firm Okewood Pty Ltd to finance and manage mining and exploration companies in Australia and overseas. Sage came to corporate prominence in 2008, when he sold a

magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula . It is one of the iron oxide, oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetism, ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetization, magnetized to become a ...

project called Mt Anketell to the Metallurgical Corporation of China for $400 million after buying it 18 months earlier for just $20m. In 2009 he asset flipped CopperCo from receivership and after converting its debt to equity, sold the CopperCo assets for approximately $300m. The sale of African Iron Ltd to Exarro for approximately $375m took place in 2012. In October 2014 Sage became Executive Chairman of Cape Lambert Resources Ltd, and Non Executive Chairman of Cauldron Energy Ltd and Fe Ltd. He is a non-executive director of Kupang Resources Ltd, Caeneus Minerals Ltd, and International Petroleum Limited and Managing Director of his consultancy business Okewood Pty Ltd. From 2012 to February 2014, Cape Lambert was the subject of continuing investigations by the

Australian Taxation Office The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Taxation in Australia, Australian federal taxation ...

. The result was a $96m assessment issued to his flagship company, Cape Lambert Resources Ltd, plunging the share value by 75%. After two years of intense scrutiny, the ATO settled for $2.4m.

Perth Glory

In 2007 Sage purchased a part ownership stake in A-League football club

, and fully took over the club in 2009 after buying out co-owner Brett McKeon. In 2020 he began the process of selling part of the club to the London Football Exchange, a football-based

Cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

exchange, for a price of $30 million. The deal fell apart after the founder of LFE was revealed to be using a fake identity, and was actually convicted fraudster James Abbass Biniaz. Sage stepped down as owner of the club in 2023. The club was issued a breach notice & Sage was stripped of the license due to financial turmoil that included requiring loans from the central administration of the league to pay staff & player wages.

Fashion and media

Sage was part owner of the Perth Fashion Festival until it went into administration and ceased operations in 2019. He was also the owner and publisher of the defunct Kurv fashion magazine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sage, Tony Perth Glory FC Australian soccer chairmen and investors Businesspeople from Perth, Western Australia Australian mining businesspeople Australian magazine publishers (people) Living people 1960 births Australian company founders