Fake artwork paints a poor picture for TEAC By Helen Westerman and Rebecca Urban A COLLECTION of paintings owned by TEAC Australia has caused a bit of a headache for the art department at auction house Leonard Joel, which discovered some works attributed to the late Graeme Roche to be less than genuine. Art manager Peter Struthers was having doubts about some of the paintings, so he called in the artist's widow, Gill Del-Mace. Several were found to be fakes. "They were digitally produced prints," Struthers said, adding that they were varnished heavily and looked like paintings. He confirmed that the six Roche paintings owned by TEAC, including Wrecked Cars and Spirit of St Valentine that appear in the catalogue for Leonard Joel's spring auction, have all been authenticated. They are part of a wider collection owned by TEAC, which was placed in voluntary administration in March, owing $55 million to creditors. The fake paintings will now be destroyed to ensure they are never sold to some poor schmuck who wouldn't know any better. Football and media celebrity John "Sam" Newman shares the TEAC mob's admiration for the talents of Graeme Roche. He bought four of the artist's paintings directly from TEAC's former boss and part-owner, Gavin Muir, several years ago. AdvertisementAdvertisement Newman told Full Disclosure he bought them over the period of a year for a combined six-figure sum. And, while he had them independently valued, what's the bet he's now out looking for a second opinion? Peptech CEO closer BIOTECH cash box Peptech is getting closer to naming a new chief executive, having trimmed its list of hopeful candidates down to two. Executive chairman Mel Bridges, who is in Britain at the moment, has been running the company since former managing director Stephen Kwik retired in late 2003. Bridges is a man with a lot on his plate. He is chairman of Alchemia and several private companies, and also sits on the board of Peptech's investee company Domantis � prompting some shareholders to question whether he is a tad stretched. With a two-year contract set to expire in January, Bridges is also facing increasing pressure to do something with the huge wad of cash � about $44 million thanks to the settlement of some licensing disputes with US pharmaceutical companies � he has been sitting on. But so far he's been all talk, promising deals and acquisitions and a $1 billion market capitalisation by 2010, and no action. A recent $12 million share buyback and a maiden dividend appeased some shareholders, but equally baffled others keen to see the company grow. It is believed that Peptech's headhunters approached Pete Smith, the highly regarded former boss of Amrad Corporation, about the gig, but a non-compete clause forced him to turn it down. Interestingly, it was Smith who cooked up the short-lived notion of merging the equally cashed-up Amrad � soon to be renamed Zenyth Therapeutics � with Peptech. Boardroom eyes ANOTHER business figure juggling a full schedule these days is Mirvac Group's chairman-in-waiting James MacKenzie. Sources close to MacKenzie say that his recent decision to step into the chairman's role as of next month's annual meeting has prompted him to review his extensive list of business and government commitments. In addition to the Sydney-based listed property group, MacKenzie chairs the Victorian WorkCover Authority and Transport Accident Commission, and sits on the board of the Victorian Major Events Company. He is also a non-executive director of Amrad and the listed Circadian Technologies. Biotech's big boost STARPHARMA Holdings' decision to place its shares in a trading halt came as little surprise to the market on Friday. It followed a 15 per cent hike in its share price on one day alone last week, a speeding ticket from the stock exchange and an article in this column about the company's public relations machine gearing up for a "very significant announcement" � their words, not ours. Starpharma told the market on Thursday that it was in confidential discussions regarding a funding opportunity for its vaginal microbicide product, which is being developed to stop the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. A day earlier the company blamed a positive research report for the uncharacteristic jump in its share price. An announcement is expected to be released as early as today.