Rising: Stars

Friday 20th July 2001

Most of us know people we think are rich but few have sufficient wealth to qualify for entry to The Rich List. To qualify for our list they must have a minimum net worth of about $20 million. Where lesser figures are quoted they refer to provable minimum wealth (actual wealth is much more).

Each year we identify people who knock on the door of The Rich List. This year is no exception. Some will elevated to the main list next year, some not. Most would prefer not to be described as rich and certainly in world terms they are not, but they do hold the key to New Zealand's wealth-creation

From left, Kylie Bax, Mike Pero and Andrew Hawken

Grant Keith Baker (43), Shane Fulton McKillen (33) and David John Spicer (36) are all ex-Blue Star Group managers whose names now spell success.

The three made a killing after the sale of eftpos supplier and Telecom dealer Netco and electricity retailer Empower.

Contact Energy paid $23 million for Empower, of which Netco was the largest shareholder, owning 62%. The sale netted Baker $7.56 million, McKillen $5.28 million and Spicer $1.43 million.

The three then went on to launch EmPhone, which sells toll and business packages in partnership with Clear. Emphone racked up 1000 customers within the first two months of operation and the company now turns over $3-4 million a year and is growing fast. The three also own a watercooler company and Energy Direct, which sells smart meters to businesses with high power usage.

Baker, the wealthiest of the threesome, says the $7.56 million figure he gleamed from the Netco sale is conservative and claims to have made much more out of the deal. An escalation contract with Contact means the final gain is considerably more. Baker and McKillen are avid motor racing fans and together own two V8 touring cars.

New York-based Kiwi model Kylie Bax (26) departed briefly this year from modelling clothes and instead modelled her naked body for the March issue of Playboy.

The pictures were claimed to be the raunchiest ever seen in the magazine, but unless you were one of the wise few who bought the issue early on you have missed out - most retailers in Auckland sold out within the first couple of days.

But this comes as no surprise considering Bax is renowned for her amazing breasts. She claims to have posed nude for the magazine so her children and grandchildren will be able to see what she once looked like.

Bax shot to fame shortly after she moved to New York after being discovered in a New Zealand supermarket by Clyne Model Management.

She is in no way publicity shy, is very confident and is often seen out in New York.

Bax's wealth is growing fast. She has modelled for Dior, Armani, Louis Vuitton, Escada and Clinique - remember, she was the "happy" girl. She has also appeared in Swimsuit Illustrated and of course Playboy, for which she was paid an undisclosed sum.

The supermodel owns homes in New York and Los Angeles as well as a 40ha Kentucky thoroughbred stud farm named B'Ranch. In late 1999 Bax bought Blandford Lodge in the Waikato with her horsebreeder father, Graham. The pair plan to use the property to place their broodmare band. The property, said to encompass over 80ha, was estimated to have carried a $3 million price tag.

Bax has acted small parts in a number of films, including Storm Catcher with Dolph Lundgren and Boys and Girls with Claire Forlani and Freddie Prinze Jr in which she played a supermodel. Her most recent film, your typical teen comedy/romance called Get Over It, stars Kirsten Dunst. Bax has also appeared regularly on MTV as a celebrity judge in Say What Karaoke.

She has been associated with a number of men, including billionaire Donald Trump. Others she has been rumoured to have been involved with include Simply Red's Mick Hucknall and Pamela Anderson ex Tommy Lee.

Christchurch businessman (Winston) John Butterfield (60) sold his home on Waiwetu St, Fendalton, a couple of years ago for a record price - $2.5 million. He then built himself a new home on the same street. It cost $2.5 million to build and its architect, Alan Cowie, won a design award for his work.

Butterfield and his business partner, Ian MacKenzie, have interests in a string of inner-city pubs and liquor stores. The pair have built up a strategic holding in a number of hotels. They include, the Chancery on Gloucester St, the Oxford on Colombo St, the Vic and Whale on the corner of Colombo and Armagh streets, Boulevard on Oxford Tce, Parklands at Burwood, the Racecourse Hotel at Addington, the Caledonian in St Albans, Super Liquor outlets in Colombo St and the Hornby Hotel.

The pair recently added the Hornby Junction to their property portfolio. According to Butterfield, the buffet-style restaurant is the biggest in the South Island.

Earlier this year Butterfield joined a group of prominent Christchurch businessmen who, fed up with being constantly burgled to order, set about starting an internet site offering rewards to catch the receivers of stolen goods.

Butterfield has been involved in the Christchurch liquor trade since the 1970s and could be described as a cut-price pioneer, particularly in the area of late-night drinking and entertainment.

In 1999 one of his bars was shut down and called a booze barn by police. The bar, Lochinvars, once advertised a $20 "all-you-can-drink" promotion and police submissions opposing renewal of the bar's liquor licence said underage drinkers would throw up on them.

Police said other pubs owned by Butterfield were extremely well run.

In 1995 Butterfield, along with Ian MacKenzie, was one of the original seed investors in Sea Search, a failed venture to search, yet again, for gold from the wreck of the General Grant at the Auckland Islands.

As the dotcom hype subsides many e-commerce entrepreneurs are falling by the wayside, but this is not the case for Matthew Joseph Darby (35), whose company EstarOnline has won three major contracts in the past year worth millions of dollars.

Darby's 10-year plan is to become a leading New Zealand-based software developer and e-commerce investor and he may be well on his way to achieving this goal.

EstarOnline landed two six-figure deals late last year with British music memorabilia company Fleetwood Owen and Australian entertainment site Scape. Another significant deal was landed in February this year with FlyingPig.

Darby started out using $300,000 of his own money to set up CDstar, but he never considered his company to be a CD retailer only and sold CDstar to IT Media for an undisclosed amount in December last year.

Darby has worked hard for these results - he cancelling his honeymoon for a business meeting. He's not such a bad guy though, taking his wife to Fiji for a week as interim compensation

Darby did not want to discuss particulars when The Rich List contacted him but said he was in discussions with a couple of overseas clients and with clients in New Zealand, signalling more lucrative deals may be on the horizon.

The 36-year-old ex-ad man has a passion for skiing, and while he was sharing a ride with a friend on a chairlift, the idea to start his own internet business germinated. These days he still finds time to ski most weekends.

Singer-songwriter Neil Mullane Finn (43) has experienced remarkable success since he split from his group Crowded House and launched his solo career.

This year he released his second solo album, One Nil, and it immediately went gold. He also completed a hugely successful five-night stand at the St James Theatre, Auckland, where he pulled together some of the biggest names in this business. Guests included Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, the Smiths' Johnny Marr and Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien.

Last year Finn published his first book, Once Removed, a joint work with photographer Mark Smith who toured with Finn on his first solo tour, Try Whistling This, in 1998. He has also launched his own website <www.nilfun.net>.

Finn is probably one of the few New Zealand musicians who has made, and still is making, good money from his craft.

He left school at 17 to join his brother, Tim, in Split Enz. Although the band's success was said to be only enough to buy each band member a freehold house, the triumph of Crowded House, his first solo album, Try Whistling This, and now One Nil suggest Finn is a wealthy man.

Despite his fame and success Finn is by all accounts unpretentious. He lives in Auckland with his wife, Sharon, and two sons, Liam and Elroy. He has a studio at his home in Parnell, Auckland, and a beach house at Mt Maunganui.

Roger Martin Giles appeared in 1999's Emerging Rich section after he was revealed as the silent partner in former cabinet minister Philip Burdon's Christchurch-based Meadow Mushrooms empire.

Giles and Burdon moved their Mushroom-growing operation from Cyprus to Canterbury in 1970.

Since then the pair have expanded the business. It is the largest producer of mushrooms in New Zealand, averaging 125 tonnes a week, and is one of the top two producers in Australasia.

In recent years the company has expanded its product range beyond fresh produce into prepared frozen foods. The company employs 500 people nationwide.

In 1999 Giles, who with related interests holds 50% of the company, stepped down as managing director but he remains a director.

He is listed as a director of eight companies, most of which are related to the mushroom-growing business.

Andrew Hawken's name was hardly mentioned last year when Contact Energy bought power retailer-marketer Empower for $23 million but Hawken, along with Shane McKillen, Grant Baker and Dave Spicer who also appear in this year's Emerging Rich section, walked away well off.

He is estimated to have made $3.8 million from selling his 16% stake in the company and that, together with money from the sale of other ventures, means Hawken is worth at least $10 million.

In July last year the former commercial lawyer told NBR he was crossing the ditch and was looking at repeating Empower's success in Australia.

Since then Hawken (37) has managed to keep a low profile and The Rich List was unable to contact him, but judging by Hawken's track record there is little doubt he is just as successful in Australia as he has been in New Zealand.

Hawken has a colourful resume including the food business (he was assistant company secretary at Progressive Enterprises), and movie-making (legal and business affairs manager at South Pacific Pictures).

He has been described as unassuming and as much at home on the basketball court as in the boardroom.

Television broadcaster Paul Scott Holmes (51) suffered a public paycut this year when his salary, described by Prime Minister Helen Clark as "revolting," was slashed by about $150,000.

Holmes got upset over the whole affair and ended up apologising to TVNZ chairman Ross Armstrong for accusing him of breaching the confidentiality of his contract with TVNZ. He also apologised for demanding a public apology from Dr Armstrong.

But what's another apology in a string Holmes has made in the past couple of years. He has made public apologies to Solomon Islanders for swearing during an ad break, not realising he was still on air, and to The Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall for accusing him of refusing to sponsor television coverage of the Paralympics. He also apologised for being rude to Whitcoulls staff during the promotion of his book.

But an apology was not demanded by Jim Anderton earlier this year - instead the deputy prime minister thanked Holmes for helping him conjure up the People's Bank idea. Holmes said he had no recollection of suggesting Anderton open his own bank.

Holmes is talented as a TV and radio broadcaster and as a columnist (in 1999 he was named Qantas columnist of the year for his Saturday spot in the New Zealand Herald) but the jury is still out on his vocal talents. Although Holmes claims to have sold 20,000 of his self-titled CD, retailers claimed many of the few CDs actually bought were returned after Christmas.

Despite the paycut, Holmes still earns a substantial amount for fronting the Holmes show. His salary from TVNZ has been pegged at between $616,000 and $624,000, but Holmes has disputed this figure.

He also pulls in a tidy salary for his breakfast radio show on Newstalk ZB, and has a 12% stake in production company Communicado, which recently merged with Australian production company Screentime.

Holmes bought a secluded mansion in rural Hawke's Bay in early 1999, which is believed to have set him back over $1 million. Set in 18ha of farm land the seven-bedroomed Mana Lodge is equipped with a pool, gymnasium, tennis court and stables.

Ex-Californian couple Sally Mitchell Hunt and Robert Gerald Hunt (69) have denied claims their wealth is derived from being related to American billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt, famous for trying to corner the world's silver markets. They also deny their luxury lodge near Ngatimoti, Nelson, cost $25 million to build.

But, the fact that room rates at the complex are among the most expensive in New Zealand suggests it would have taken no small sum to finance the development. Prices at Paratiho Farms are higher even than those at New Zealand's internationally renowned Huka Lodge.

Although no punters so far have forked out $10,000 to hire the whole lodge for a night, the cheaper $1850 option which includes fine dining and wine is attracting customers.

The couple continue to sponsor Nelson's Suter Gallery with an undisclosed sum but are not involved in other charitable trusts.

The Hunts moved to New Zealand in 1997, three years after losing their home in the 1994 Northbridge earthquake.

Thirteen years of involvement in The Warehouse has paid off for (Peter) Glen Inger (38) whose substantial share interest in The Warehouse has revealed him as one to watch.

But talking about his wealth is not Inger's favourite pastime; he describes himself as a private person. Inger said he thought he had hidden his wealth quite well but said he knew The Rich List would catch up with him sooner or later.

Inger doubled his share interest in The Warehouse last year and now holds at least five million shares. It is rumoured his wife holds an additional four million. Inger also draws a $360,000 salary.

He has been involved in The Warehouse since its early days. In 1994 he swapped 50% of a company he owned with Gerard Peterson for a smaller piece of the larger company.

Peterson has since sold out but Inger continued on and is now property director with The Warehouse.

Peter Charles Leitch, better known as the Mad Butcher, dabbles in more than just wild pork sausages and emu patties these days.

He is an entrepreneur, owner, operator, sports enthusiast and philanthropist. Leitch is the Vodafone Warriors' best-known supporter and an honorary ambassador for New Zealand rugby league. He has a regular slot on television's Good Morning show and between all this finds time to run a business worth $50 million a year.

But Leitch does not claim to be a wealthy man. He says he lives a simple life and has millions of sausages, not dollars.

In the past year Leitch has expanded his business, he now has 19 butcher shops all carrying the Mad Butcher name, and has recruited a CEO. His daughters, Julie and Angela, are involved in the business.

Leitch's work in the community ranges from his involvement with the Mad Butcher-Suburban Newspapers Community Trust to sponsoring the burns unit at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.

In March Leitch was asked to stand for mayor of Manukau by a ratepayers' group but he rejected the request, saying he had no ambitions for a political life.

Native to Wellington he left school at 15 and became a butcher boy. Several years later he moved to Auckland and worked for Newton Meats. Seeing potential in the meat retail industry he entered the market in the 1960s as Rosella Meat.

In 1981 Leitch took Rod Slater as his business partner. The business started to grow and Leitch opened outlets in Takapuna and Papakura under the flagship of Rodpet Enterprises.

Leitch attributes most of his success to support from his wife, Janice.

Arguably one of the best chief executives in the country, Keith George McLaughlin (51) has steered listed credit management company Baycorp Holdings to six consecutive years of 20% plus growth.

A Baycorp lifer, he started with the company as a teenager, working with his father, Ray, who founded the business in 1956.

"I started off as a 17-year-old kid doing the filing, posting the mail, making coffee, doing all the shit jobs. To supplement my income I used to do repossessions on the weekends, picking up fridges, vacuum cleaners, washing machines," he said.

McLaughlin and brother Neil gradually expanded the business nationally and listed it in 1986. After a few rocky patches, it has grown strongly in recent years, as has its share price.

Baycorp is now expanding internationally and is considering a merger with Australian company Data Advantage, in which it holds a large stake.

McLaughlin and wife Karen live in a luxurious apartment in central Auckland. They have two adult children.

He was last in The Rich List in 1988, when the McLaughlin family was estimated to be worth at least $20 million.



Clockwise from left: Mike Tololi, Neil Finn, Keith McLaughlin, Paul Holmes, Peter Leitch, Grant Baker and Matthew Darby

The profile of Montana Wines deputy chairman Barry George Neville-White has been high this year because of the Montana takeover battle.

Although Montana's independent directors came clean about losing money by selling some of their holdings to Allied Domecq, Neville-White's wealth is understood to be substantial.

He recently sold 409,624 shares, or two-fifths of his holding, for $4.55 a share.

Neville-White is a director and shareholder in a number of companies, including Parnell European and North Shore Motor Holdings.

In the past he has been involved in the racing industry. His horse won the 1986 Auckland Cup and he is a former chairman of the Auckland Racing Club.

The Mr Nice Guy of the mortgage market, Mike Tukaka Pero (41) has become a household name in recent years thanks to his catchy but somewhat banal TV jingle "Mike Pero Mortgages," but it is his company's success as the country's leading mortgage broking firm that warrants a mention on this years Emerging Rich.

Born in Christchurch of a Rarotongan father and English mother, Pero left school at age 16 to be apprenticed as a motorcycle mechanic. He worked in the insurance industry, became a Woolworths trainee manger and ran a Yamaha dealership while learning to fly in 1986.

Pero established Mike Pero Mortgages in 1991 to make home financing as easy as possible. Using advertising and innovative marketing the company has grown to become the country's largest independent residential mortgage-broking company.

In 1998 the company began a franchise programme and since then 32 franchises have been sold throughout the country.

Married with four children Christchurch-based Pero won Pacific Island Business of the Year in 1991. He says he enjoys living life on the edge indulging his love of speed with fast cars and jetskis.

David Bruce Rainbow (51) sells $30 million worth of houses in Auckland most years and is one of New Zealand's most successful real estate agents.

He has been selling real estate for 18 years and describes it as a passion. His success is greater than that of Michael Boulgaris, who has slipped into relative obscurity over the past year.

But Rainbow does not consider himself to be a millionaire. Rainbow says he deals with the rich, many of whom feature on The Rich List, but he is small fry by comparison.

Nonetheless, Rainbow does have a glowing sales record. In 1998 he was Bayleys' runner-up top salesman of the year with $50 million in sales and last year he was crowned franchise salesman of the year.

This man knows how to sell houses and he reportedly hit the jackpot in November, selling the former Hugh Wright estate at 139 Arney Rd, Remuera - a deal worth $6.75 million. The Arney Rd sale financed Rainbow's one-month holiday in the US and France.

Rainbow lives in a two-storey apartment with wife Leonie, also a real estate agent in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket.

Dr Grant James Ryan (31) adorned the front page of NBR last year after his company, Global Brain, was bought by US media giant NBC Internet in exchange for NBC shares worth millions of dollars.

Ryan described the GlobalBrain technology as a "hangover-induced" idea he thought up one Sunday afternoon. He got his friends and family to trial the idea. put up funding and then quit his job as a scientist.

Grant's brothers, Shaun and Craig, and Wayne Munro, who collaborated with him to develop the advanced interned search engine, also made millions from the sale.

Although GlobalBrain, renamed NBCi (NZ), shut down last month after revenues from its US parent company dried up, Ryan is understood to have retained substantial wealth.

He said at time the scenario was far from doom and gloom and that some staff were looking at buying back the search-engine intellectual property from NBCi.

Whatever the case, Ryan is one to watch - if he managed to think up a million-dollar idea while in a drunken stupor, imagine what could be next.

Described as a bit of a dark horse Auckland-based Michael Tololi likes to keep a low profile but in recent years he has reportedly invested millions of dollars in horses.

Now in his 50s, Tololi joined forces with Eric Watson and experienced horseman Russell Warwick to establish Westbury Stud in Karaka. Westbury was picked by NBR as one of the top 10 studs to watch this year. It has a valuable broodmare band and its current stallion line up consists of Gold Brose, Faltaat, Tuscany Flyer and Kilimanjaro.

It is understood Tololi and Watson have done a deal in the way they will access stallions jointly.

Tololi buys and sells horses in the US and New Zealand and heads successful boutique breeding operation Chatham Lodge Thoroughbreds.

He started business by developing women's fashion label Love Story in the 1980s, then moved into property development before developing Chatham Lodge with partner Gary Hackett.

Tololi lives in Takapuna, Auckland, with partner Glenys.

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