Thank you everyone for your comments so far.
As I said, gentleman is savvy. He also comes from a very different culture with different values, so a lot of the emotive issues are really irrelevant. He's not interested in 'running' anything, just to say he 'owns' it. Having said that, face demands the books look good eventually.
It's a speculation. My guess would be that if it was to eventuate, buying the shell of an established operation would probably be the result. Only for that paperwork though.
The conversation started around the great open spaces (he'd just returned from a tour of Uluru) and progressed from there.
p.s he has a nice little personal fleet, including a very nice GV. Hires an Aussie pilot, apparently we are 'lucky'!