BROOKFIELDAND MACQUARIE SELL QUADRANT FOR $2.8B

fly the cars to the U.S., Russia and elsewhere. They “want to make a statement: Ride it in life, ride it in death.”

David Monn has planned some of the most high-profile funerals, including Oscar de la Renta’s star-studded service at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in 2014.

At the recent funeral of another fashion designer, he assembled 120 gospel singers who performed as the casket was carried from the hall. He arranged for a marching band to perform at one service, and once covered Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in blue hydrangeas to mirror his client’s Hamptons home.

Monn has recreated the living room of a famous playwright at Lincoln Center, lugging her furniture on stage so she could have one last salon with family and friends. At a service he planned for a world-class boxing coach at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, professional fighters in suits jumped in the ring and sparred as the deceased’s remains were carried out.

These funerals are usually by invitation only, Monn said. Just like a wedding, he notifies guests by mail — often including former presidents, sitting politicians and celebrities.

Monn, who also plans weddings, parties and corporate events, said he’s never advertised his funeral expertise online — until now. He’s updating his website to include “life service” because he sees this as a potential growth area.

“This is about putting the right punctuation mark at the end of the book,” Monn said.

Private wealth managers and accountants are advising their ultrarich clients to “deal with the topic of their own mortality,” said Elizabeth Meyer, who works as a funeral consultant for wealthy families and businesses looking to invest in the industry.

“It used to be a luxury not to deal with death,” said Meyer, author of a memoir called Good Mourning. “But at a certain economic level, end-of-life planning is a tax issue.”

Particularly when the costs can run into the millions.

A crypt beneath New York’s Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral is available for US$7 million. This isn’t just any crypt: It’s one of the last full-body burial spots in Manhattan and can hold nine caskets and 10 cremated remains.

Three prominent families have already expressed interest, said Frank Alfieri, who oversees the church’s cemetery.

To spend eternity in a gold-plated casket in the catacombs below a 200-yearold church could just be the zenith of a life well-lived. Brookfield Business Partners LP and Macquarie Group Ltd. have signed a deal to sell Australian oil and gas company Quadrant Energy to Santos Ltd. for $2.8 billion. The agreement also includes a contingent payment in connection with the recent significant Dorado-1 oil discovery and a royalty over all other future hydrocarbons produced in Quadrant’s Bedout Basin tenements. The sale is subject to approvals including from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Quadrant is focused on the Exmouth and Carnarvon Basins off Western Australia. Brookfield and its partners hold a 48.3 per cent stake in Quadrant, while Macquarie Capital and its partners hold 21.8 per cent. Wesfarmers and AMB Holdings each hold a 13.2 per cent stake and Quadrant management holds 3.4 per cent.