The dynamic duo may be on the brink of another debacle. Australian media heirs Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer, whose last business venture came to a sticky end, are struggling to pull off their planned buy-out of Consolidated Media Holdings.

The proposed acquisition, whereby the young tycoons are offering A$3.3bn for the Australian publisher, began to unravel when Mr Murdoch said one of his backers had pulled out. A private equity sponsor getting cold feet is hardly unusual in today’s markets, and credit jitters are particularly bad in Australia. CMH now holds minority stakes in media assets – James Packer hived off the casino interests, as well as a clutch of pay-TV and other stakes. Given that the deserting backer, San Francisco-based SPO Partners, retreated after six weeks, there may be question marks over what it found during due diligence. Finally, there is an Australia-specific factor. The Aussie dollar has strengthened by  7 per cent against the US dollar this year, raising hedging costs.