Francesca Packer Barham is at the centre of fresh engagement speculation, with reports suggesting the billionaire heiress may be set to marry controversial entrepreneur Robert Bates “as early as July this year”.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old daughter of Gretel Packer and Nick Barham has been linked to Bates since 2022.<\/p>\n
The pair confirmed their romance later that year after they were photographed kissing aboard a luxury yacht on Sydney Harbour.<\/p>\n
The couple were reportedly introduced by PR maven Roxy Jacenko, who was Packer’s publicist at the time.<\/p>\n
According to reports, the heiress allegedly “fell head over heels” for Bates and even “confided to friends her desire to start a family” with him.<\/p>\n
Despite rumours of a split in December, friends have told The Daily Telegraph the pair- who have a 15-year age gap- have grown more serious about their relationship in recent months.<\/p>\n
Neither Packer Barham nor Bates has publicly confirmed an engagement.<\/p>\n
However, the publication claims that “whispers within Sydney society suggest preparations are quietly underway”.<\/p>\n
Bates, a 46-year-old divorced father, previously appeared on the Australian Financial Review’s Young Rich List with an estimated net worth of $145 million.<\/p>\n
He was chief executive of the now-defunct wellness brands Aurum+ and Aquamamma, and founded 7 Trinity Biotech.<\/p>\n
Alongside former partner Emma Gibson, Bates co-founded Aquamamma, which pitched itself as a hydration product for pregnant women, and Aurum+,\u00a0 a biotech firm flogging supplements designed to “increase resilience to stress”.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the Australian Financial Review, Gibson stepped down as Aquamamma’s chief executive in May 2022, months after the couple split.<\/p>\n
By November 2023, the company had been declared insolvent by a court, with significant debts owed.<\/p>\n
Sources close to the Packer Barham and Bates say they have become increasingly private in recent years, as Bates faces scrutiny over money allegedly owed to investors.<\/p>\n
It is understood the pair are based in Potts Point and also split their time at Packer Barham’s Palm Beach property.<\/p>\n
Bates has frequently been spotted behind the wheel of his fianc\u00e9e’s bright pink Mercedes G63.<\/p>\n
Before Bates, the granddaughter of the late media magnate Kerry Packer dated Sydney personal trainer Sam Zacharia, the son of celebrity plastic surgeon Michael Zacharia.<\/p>\n
She was also previously linked to Melbourne property developer Kelli Holland and Australian musician Joshua Mullane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Francesca Packer Barham is at the centre of fresh engagement speculation, with reports suggesting the billionaire heiress may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134,247617,247616,247619,108851,247620,247618,247621],"class_list":["post-489974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-francesca-packer","tag-francesca-packer-barham","tag-gretel-packer","tag-kerry-packer","tag-nick-barham","tag-robert-bates","tag-roslyn-packer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}