National Business Review Rich List

RETAILING, VENTURE CAPITAL

Worth: $412 million

THE WAREHOUSE founder and philanthropist Stephen Tindall is now principally involved in investing but it was his retailing roots that brought him glory last year. He was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame and also received a visionary leader award at the Deloitte/Management Magazine Top 200 awards.

A great-grandson of department store founder George Court, Tindall remains a director on The Warehouse board. Like any visionary leader he showed he was still willing to take it on the chin for his company at the November AGM.

The Warehouse's Australian operations had just been offloaded at a loss after flopping unmercifully over the past five years. He gave a personal apology for the board underestimating the competitiveness of the Australian market, but said taking risks was justified.

The Warehouse is now expanding into hypermarkets and with Foodstuffs' recent buy-in, the share price has strengthened. Tindall reaffirmed his commitment as majority shareholder.

The Warehouse Extra with grocery, pharmacy and liquor offerings opened at the Sylvia Park complex in Auckland in June. The Te Rapa, Hamilton, store trialling new services was the company's strongest performer.

Tindall's investment portfolio includes Neuren Pharmaceuticals, LCD designer Pure Depth, which recently listed in the US, and audio technology company Phitek, which manufactures noise-cancelling earphones.

Tindall has also shown faith in Woosh Wireless, joining with the Todd family and two other international investors to provide a $29 million cash injection in January after it posted a loss of nearly $22 million.

2005: $395 million

RETAILING, PROPERTY

Worth: $254 million

THERE MAY a retail downturn looming but it hasn't affected Rod Duke's Briscoe and Rebel Sports groups. Latest quarterly results showed sales and profits up 10% against the prevailing retailing trend. "Business is good, we're happy," he said. The firming share price means that Duke's 75% holding has increased in value again after losing about $100 million in value a couple of years ago. This corporate shopkeeper is looking forward to opening new Briscoe and Rebel Sports stores in New Plymouth, among seven openings planned for coming months.

Duke also owns properties but it's hard to track them down because he uses nominee companies to stop nosy researchers finding out about them, suggesting he is worth considerably more than his Briscoe shareholding. "You would too, wouldn't you mate?" says the former Ocker, who came over this side of the Tasman in the 1980s. He and his wife enjoy golf and he has a large wine cellar to complement the gourmet recipes his wife likes to prepare.

2005: $220 million

RETAIL

Worth: $85 million

THE CHRISTCHURCH chain store owner has yet again spotted a gap in the women's fashion market he is hoping to fill - an upmarket label without upmarket prices. It was a casual conversation between the director of listed retailer Hallenstein Glassons and fashion expert Deborah Caldwell that eventually led to the launch of the company's new label, Storm.

Storm opened in Newmarket, Auckland, in March, and will open another store shortly in Christchurch's High St. Storm has been one of a number of positive recent developments at Hallenstein Glasson in the past year, including the opening of its 21st Australian Glassons store in April, and a 29% rise in half-yearly net profit to February of $10.9 million.

Mr Glasson is from a long-line of South Island rag-traders. Glassons dates back to the 1900s when Charles and John Glasson started an open-to-the-public warehouse, which also operated a mail order service, in Christchurch.

That company eventually merged in 1985 with Hallenstein and has progressed from there.

Glasson also has a number of property interests in Christchurch and Wanaka. He also owns a large chunk of listed investment company Kingfish.

2005: $80 million

BAKING

Worth: $35 million

YOU USED to have to visit the tiny Taranaki town of Manaia to sample the delights of the bakery which the Yarrow family has run since 1923. Now, as well as being able to pick up its Dutch Mill bread all around New Zealand, it's possible to taste Yarrows' dough in fast food outlets across the United States and Asia.

Yarrows supplies rolls to Subway restaurants in New Zealand, Australia, the US and, more recently, Korea and Taiwan. The dough is mixed, shaped, and frozen locally, before being dispatched to foreign locales where it can be baked at any time up to nine months later without time-consuming preparation.

Two-thirds of Yarrows' income, around $55 million per annum, is from exports.

Another major customer is Australian chain Coles Myer, a destination for croissants and other baked goods straight from Manaia.

Patriarch Noel Yarrow was made acting CEO of the company last year, replacing son John, who was bought out by Paul Yarrow the son, and brother of the pair, respectively.

The family members are major sponsors of sport in the Taranaki region.

The local stadium bears the Yarrow name; they sponsored the local leg of the new Pacific Five Nations international rugby tournament, and became principal sponsors of Taranaki cycling challenge. The Yarrows also have an educational trust, which in the year provided grants for an ICT center at New Plymouth Boys High School and computer equipment for the troubled Patea Area School.

2005 : $35 million

INVESTMENT

Worth: $350 million

ERIC WATSON continues to be well known as socialite Nicky Watson's ex-husband - his name hasn't appeared too often on business pages over the past year. His Pacific Retail Group has struggled with UK electrical goods retailer PowerHouse, which was taken to court this year for rent avoidance after closing more stores. PRG's local investments include Bendon and Living and Giving. Watson's wealth has been downgraded from last year because of the poor performance of Pacific Retail.

At press time PRG share trading had been suspended while the NZX awaits the company's annual report, held up while an audit of the $145 million sale of Pacific Retail Finance to GE Finance earlier this year proceeded.

The Warriors league team, which Watson has shares in through his company Cullen Sports, was docked competition points and faced financial losses this year when salary cap breaches were discovered. But Watson said he remained committed to the club.

On a more positive note, Hanover Finance, which Watson invests in alongside fellow Rich Lister Mark Hotchin, remains a very profitable business. Its 2005 profit was up 50% from the previous year at $17.4 million.

Watson now lives in London and is renting out his south Auckland homestead, Westbury Estate, for $6000 a night. The property includes a nine-hole golf course, a tennis court, helicopter pad, 15m heated pool and sauna among its many facilities.

2005: $400 million

PROPERTY

Worth: $140 million

PHILIP CARTER has a $40 million war chest from his sale of a former Queenstown camping ground that will be developed by Hanover Group. He is now looking for new investment opportunities. The repositioning of the Crowne Plaza Queenstown, where he took a $20 million joint venture interest, has also taken his focus in recent months. He generally stays in his holiday home there. Between his work at Queenstown and regular trips to Europe and Australia, he fulfils duties as director of Christchurch International Airport. In central Christchurch, he owns hotels, commercial properties and blocks of residential land. At Hanmer he owns a strip of commercial buildings. His headquarters are in the Regent building in Cathedral Square, Christchurch.

Last year he bought a property near Sumner where he will be closer to his father, 89-year old Maurice, who founded the empire that Phillip bought out from other members of the family including brothers Tony, chief executive of Foodstuffs, and David, National list MP. The purchase of the Hurst Seager-designed Kinsey Tce house on Clifton Hill was controversial because he decided to demolish most of it and the neighbours kicked up a fuss because of its historical associations, and possibly something to do with their views. It was the house where Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton ate his last supper before heading south a century ago. The demolition squad did a thorough job - right down to an anchor in the garden that had been salvaged from one of Shackleton's ships. It took a couple of calls to his mate, construction magnate Buzz March, who employed the gang, to ensure the anchor was returned after some persuasive talk.

2005: $140 million

RETAILING

Worth: $280 million

THE PASCOE Group, a family-owned company has expanded well beyond the Pascoes jewellery chain. It also includes the Farmers bought in 2004, Stewart Dawson's and the Proud's jewellery brand, which is sold within Farmers stores. Anne Norman is the granddaughter of Pascoes founder James Pascoe. The family has been injecting large sums in recent years to rejuvenate the Farmers and Proud's brands.

The Normans live in Remuera, Auckland.

2005: $275 million

FOOD, TIMBER

Worth: $2.75 billion

GRAEME HART'S smile has hardly left the business pages all year - not surprising, given the deals he has pulled.

One of the reasons he has been so prominent is that he has had something to sell - the Goodman Fielder float saw the entrepreneur call a rare press conference, giving photographers and television crews the chance to update their files.

Alas, no sooner had his food company Burns Philp sold off Goodman Fielder than Hart was back into recluse mode, refusing interviews, including one for the Rich List.  "Graeme doesn't give interviews," a spokeswoman for Hart's investment company Rank Group said. Well, not unless he has good reason to.

Hart might be media shy but he can't stay out of the news. Around the middle of last year some investment bankers were wondering whether the high levels of corporate activity seen in the first half might be over.

There were fewer deals happening and the enthusiasm for buy-outs, mergers and equity raisings appeared to have abated And then Hart came along.

In less than two months, the Kiwi entrepreneur struck three major deals to turn the local corporate environment on its head.

First, his private company Rank Group sold most of the New Zealand Dairy Foods assets back to Fonterra for three times the purchase price, taking in return assets worth $416 million and $338 million in cash. The assets were part of a package later sold to Goodman Fielder for $746 million.

Then he caught the investment banking community on the hop, buying International Paper's controlling stake in Carter Holt Harvey and offering to buy out the remaining shareholders in a deal worth $3.3 billion.

As if that wasn't enough, Hart further stunned the investment community by announcing his food group Burns Philp would buy Dairy Foods from Rank and revive the Goodman Fielder name in a combined sharemarket float worth more than $2 billion.

The Goodman Fielder float and a subsequent sale of Uncle Tobys left Hart's Burns Philp with a war chest of $3.5 billion.  If Hart was comfortable making a heavily leveraged buy - as he has been in the past - Burns Philp could make a purchase worth up to $A6 billion, a Credit Suisse report estimated earlier this year.

Others estimate an even bigger plunge - stockbroker ABN Amro noted Burns Philp could afford an acquisition of $15 billion.  High profile companies such as Lion Nathan and Telecom New Zealand are among the speculated targets but Hart always keeps his cards close to his chest.

There is also the question of what plans he has for Carter Holt, now the company is delisted from the stock exchange, giving Hart greater freedom to restructure and sell parts of the company.  Most of the short term speculation centres on a sale of Carter Holt's 330,000ha of forests, believed to be worth up to $1.37 billion.

But Hart is far from conventional, eschewing business associations or business gatherings so any information is hard to come by.

While he obviously loves transforming companies, Hart's other passions revolve around his family, his home and his boat - a $100 million yacht, Ulysses.

2005: $2 billion

Rodney Adrian DUKE, 52

Retailing

Worth: $320 million min.

RETAILER EXTRAORDINAIRE Rod Duke was headhunted by the Dutch owners of Briscoes in 1998. His job was to prepare the fledgling retail chain for sale.  But Duke decided instead to buy the business himself. He paid a six-figure sum for the company and set about building it into the mammoth retailer it is today.

Fifteen years of hard slog has paid off for Duke, with Briscoe Group listing on the Stock Exchange in 2001.  Also part of the group, the Rebel Sport chain is no wimp on the retail front, with the company posting $89 million in sales this year.

Despite his success Duke lives a relatively quiet life. While his home in Auckland's plush Remuera suburb is no shack - the property has a government valuation of $5 million - he claims to have no interest in the flash boats, private jets and holiday homes much loved by his wealthy counterparts.

Besides his interest in Briscoe Group, Duke is a director of Cellarsoft, an internet-based library of sorts that provides members with up-to-the-minute information on wine.

He says his involvement in the company is as a mentor to the two young entrepreneurs who thought up the concept, Stuart Parker and Jeremy Turner. Duke is also reported as owning industrial properties in South Auckland.

Caption - GOING THE DISTANCE: With Briscoe Group Rod Duke has made himself - and many investors - considerably wealthier