RICH LIST - The West Australian

Transcription

WESTBUSINESS SPECIAL MAGAZINE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013
WA’S
RICH
LIST
2013
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WA’S RICH LIST 2013 3
WA’s Rich List
October 24, 2013
6 GRAHAM HARDIE
Let’s charge our glasses for the
wowsers.
14 DALE ALCOCK
There is more to this brickie
than a household name.
16 DIVIRGILIO FAMILY
Seven brothers, 30 car yards
and a growing business.
25 CHIU CHI WEN
Wen and the Art of Life Cycle
Maintenance.
26 HANCOCK HEIRS
Who wants to be a
squillionaire? They do.
30 FULL LIST
WA’s 50 richest people
Editor & research Neale Prior
Cover design Aaron Mandolene
Production Charmaine Rapp
Reporters Neale Prior, Ben Harvey, Peter
Klinger, Sean Smith, Kim Macdonald, Nick
Evans, Natalie Brown, Kate Emery, Peter
Williams, Marissa Lague
Sources ASIC, Dun &
Bradstreet/Company 360, IRESS,
Bloomberg, Supreme Court, company
websites
New stars
shine in
gloom
winter gloom was
descending when this
reporter dusted off the
files and began number
crunching for the 2013 edition of
WA’s Rich List. The resources
boom was apparently ending,
Kevin Rudd was kneecapping
the car industry and business
confidence was shakier than the
WA Government’s credit rating.
We need to go over some old
ground to cover some big falls in
fortunes.
Through the gloom, it
appeared nightclub owner
Graham Hardie could be the
biggest beneficiary of the
Northbridge Link project thanks
to extensive holdings just north
of the sinking railway line.
Welcome to the Rich List, Mr
Hardie.
Property mogul and Pranic
Healing practitioner Chiu Chi
Wen was left off the list in the
A
WA’s Rich List editor Neale Prior. Picture Dione Davidson
past because his Malaysia-based
mother had firm control of
family trusts. We now feel
confident to claim Mr Wen and
his family fortune for WA.
Our business connections had
asked why we did not include
the Cardaci family in previous
editions. Their Centurion
empire plays a major role in the
resources industry, and after a
detailed examination, the family
enters the 2013 list high up.
Despite Mr Rudd’s efforts, we
also welcome the Divirgilio
family, of DVG Automotive
Group fame.
Alan Bond’s son John Bond, a
partner in the $1.5 billion-plus
Primewest property syndication
empire, looked set to return
thanks to new insight into the
operation and assets of Bond
family trusts. His Primewest
partners David Schwartz and
Jim Litis were also candidates.
However, the market recovery
saw them pipped by established
list members Frank Tomasi,
John Rubino and Ian Trahar.
We jokingly refer to this
publication as the ethnic social
pages. A weakness with lists
such as ours is that we estimate
wealth based on known
businesses, investments and
wealth sources. This may create
a bias where those who keep
assets in direct family control
are more likely to have traceable
fortunes. Read European
migrants.
Then again the multi-ethnic
nature of our list may just reflect
waves of smart, hard-working
migrants who helped generate
this State’s post-war wealth.
There are many wealthy
families that have extensive
holdings hidden from public
eyes in trusts, property
syndications, nominee
companies and as minor stakes
in major corporations.
Doric chief Harry Xydas drops
of the list of 50 this year, as do
Mineral Resources director
Charles Bass and Kimberley
cattleman Stirling Buntine.
On behalf of one squillionaire
who is sick of tax office auditors
waving this list in his face, I end
with a disclaimer: The list is
based on publicly available
information and estimates of
asset value. It is prepared with
diligence, but please don’t take it
as the last word on where WA’s
wealth lies.
Neale Prior, WA’s Rich List Editor
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WA’S RICH LIST 2013
Frank Tomasi
S
ixty years ago,
Gianfranco Tomasi
came to Australia as an
11-year-old migrant who
couldn’t speak English.
His many achievements since
then were recognised this year
with an Order of Australia.
The recognition was for
significant service to business
through leadership roles in the
electrical contracting industry,
and to the community.
The founder of Southern
Cross Electrical Engineering
has given back to the industry
which made him wealthy,
helping found training
organisations and taking a
leadership role in the peak
industry body.
Mr Tomasi is also renowned
for charitable donations,
providing power and equipment
for a remote school in one
African country where SCEE
operates and doing the same for
a hospital in another.
He is a long-time supporter
and benefactor of the Telethon
50
$147 million
CONTRACTING,
PROPERTY, WINE
Southern Cross Electrical
Engineering, Oceans
Estate
Speech and Hearing Centre for
Children.
After starting his career with
BHP and Transfield Services,
the engineer went out on his
own in 1978. The company grew
into a global contractor.
He floated SCEE on the stock
exchange in 2007, retaining a 40
per cent stake that is now worth
about $70 million.
The company posted the best
financial results in its history
this year, with a 27 per cent
jump in profit to $17 million. Mr
Tomasi’s share of the dividend
payout was $1.8 million.
Mr Tomasi is heavily invested
in industrial properties,
including SCEE’s Naval Base
premises. He owns the Oceans
Estate winery and Glenview beef
cattle farm, both in Karridale.
At 71 he remains a keen
basketball player who
participated in the World
Masters Games in Turin in
August.
John
Rubino
f there was ever a man that
embodied the supposedly
overnight success of the WA
economy, it would be Calogero
Giovanni Battista Rubino.
He migrated to WA from Sicily
in 1966 unable to speak English
but blessed with a grasp of
commerce, being raised in a
family with a deli and an
agricultural business.
After starting his Australian
working life as a trade assistant,
he grabbed an opportunity in
1970 to become a sub-contractor
on the Ord River dam project.
After the sharemarket crash of
1987, Mr Rubino took charge of
contracting group
Monadelphous and proceeded to
turn a business which was on
the verge of collapse into a $2
billion contracting giant.
He is quietly spoken, speaking
with an accent thick with his
Italians roots, but shares
business wisdom that has served
WA success stories such as
I
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ENGINEERING, MINING
SERVICES, PROPERTY
Monadelphous
49
Monadelphous and Wesfarmers
so well — including surprising
on the upside.
“The boom happens, but you
have to be ready and prepared to
take the benefit,” he said.
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6
Ian
Trahar
f Kevin Rudd was right with
his 2007 claim that climate
change was the greatest
moral challenge of our time, any
decent businessman should be
making himself as much a part
of the cure as the cause.
On the carbon emissions
side, Mr Trahar has become a
niche player in the Australian
aviation industry through
his international and
domestic charter jet operation
Revesco Air.
Arguably the flagship is
Oprah Winfrey’s former
Gulfstream IV-SP corporate jet,
complete with a private sleeper
cabin for the discerning
executive. He also boasts a
Gulfstream IV, Bombardier
Challenger, Cessna Citation and
Phenom 100.
If you turn on a light or run
an appliance through a
powerboard, there is a chance
you are using a product
provided by Arlec Australia.
His main listed vehicle is
carbon sequestration and
aquaculture company CO2
Group, which has developed
emission offset packages for
clients including Woodside,
Qantas and the Sydney City
Council.
I
48
$150 million
AVIATION,
ELECTRICAL
EQUIPMENT,
CARBON CAPTURE,
CO2 Group,
Arlec Australia,
Revesco Aviation
Graham
Hardie
I
t’s logical to think the
puritan anti-drinking tide
that has swept through
Northbridge in recent years
would have dented the profit
margins of the entertainment
precinct’s pubs and nightclubs.
But industry insiders say that
for many of the area’s publicans,
the police crackdown on binge
drinking has had the perverse
effect of bolstering the margin
on every drink sold.
Two decades ago Northbridge
was awash with cheap liquor. It
was possible for savvy drinkers
to avoid putting their hands in
their pockets until well after
10pm by moving from one happy
hour to the next.
Bouncers were known to wear
mouthguards on the job and
officers from the WA Police
Liquor and Gaming squad, who
never paid for their drinks even
outside happy hour, would have
no problem watching bar staff
line up shooter after shooter for
the punters.
As the owner of some of
Northbridge’s biggest and most
popular venues in the 1990s —
including drinking meccas
Havanas and Arcadia —
Graham Hardie moved more
booze on Friday and Saturday
nights than just about anyone in
the game. But only a fraction of
it was paid for at full rate.
That all changed when police
brokered the Northbridge
Accord. This agreement
amounted to the creation of a
legal cartel. Publicans in
Northbridge were penalised if
they competed on price.
47
$160 million
NIGHTCLUBS,
PROPERTY
Paramount, The
Library, Empire
Bar, South Shore
Centre,
properties in
Northbridge
The margins enjoyed by Mr
Hardie and the small group of
publicans who dominated
Northbridge became very
healthy.
Mr Hardie has enjoyed
enviable cash flow through a
series of very successful pubs
and nightclubs which he has
run under the Entertainment
Enterprises umbrella with
Northbridge stalwart Bill Oddy.
It’s a fickle trade and, like all
venues, the popularity of
Havanas, on Lake Street, waned
and it was replaced by phoenix
operations. Havanas turned into
Kremlin, then The Church and
finally The Library, which
trades today.
James Street’s Varga Lounge
traded side-by-side with
Paramount Nightclub. Years ago
he added The Saint in Innaloo to
his empire before selling the
business, but not the land, to
ALH. He maintains an interest
in suburban pubs through
Rivervale’s Empire Bar.
Graham Hardie outside his property in Northbridge, with an architect’s
drawing of its proposed redevelopment. Picture: Nic Ellis
The pubs were not the source
of his wealth, however. Like
many others, he made his
fortune in property.
Mr Hardie, who lives in
Claremont, has amassed a
swathe of land in Northbridge,
principally on Roe Street and
James Street. He owns land in
Lathlain and in the city and
counts the sprawling South
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Shore Centre on The Esplanade
in South Perth as one of the
jewels in his property empire.
For a man whose business
interests have enjoyed such a
high profile over so many years,
Mr Hardie has maintained his
privacy.
He declined to be interviewed
for this article.
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Broomstick Estate
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Auction
Lovegrove
‘Rose House’ Northam
2680 sqm
A historical residence—circa 1904 in the town’s prestigious early developed area
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$920,000
*VU[HJ[John Garland
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Steve Wyatt
teve Wyatt’s name is more
likely to appear in the
sport pages of newspapers
than on the business pages.
His divisional managers at
contracting group Mineral
Resources keep him out of the
financial limelight but he is
catching plenty of eyes as an
amateur racing car driver at
Barbagallo Raceway and
circuits internationally.
With two Italian co-drivers, he
raced his Ferrari to second
overall and top of its class at the
Asian Le Mans race in South
Korea two months ago.
S
45
$176 million
CONTRACT
MINING
Crushing Services
International,
Mineral Resources
Nick
44
Giorgetta
his time last year, WA’s iron
ore barons watched as
their paper worth tumbled
amid commodity price volatility.
If that was the story of 2012,
this year it was the turn of gold
company chiefs.
While Giorgetta-chaired Regis
Resources is still undoubtedly
one of WA’s quality gold stocks,
falls in the gold price and
renewed investor focus on
operating costs at WA miners
led to widespread falls in gold
equities, and Regis was no
exception.
The general malaise affecting
the gold sector was partly
T
Mr Wyatt set up the business
Crushing Services International
with Chris Ellison in the 1990s
and this became part of the
Ellison-run Mineral Resources
empire.
A sharemarket float in 2006
has allowed Mr Wyatt to
progressively cash in some
MinRes chips while enjoying a
$850,000-plus annual package
running Crushing Services.
Boosted by some big share
sales in 2010 and 2011, he boasts
a top-notch address after buying
Alan Bond’s former Dalkeith
spread for $39 million.
$179 million
GOLD MINING,
COMMERCIAL
PROPERTY,
REAL
ESTATE
Regis Resources
exacerbated in Regis’ case by
initial difficulties in delivering
the ramp-up of its Garden Well
mine, north of Laverton.
From a high of $5.755 last
November, Regis shares tumbled
to below $3 in late June, staging
a partial recovery since then.
But, with the company
declaring a maiden dividend
this reporting season after
booking a $145.7 million profit
for the year, Regis has
cemented its place as a low-cost
producer and a solid cash
generator — a position that can
only enhance Mr Giorgetta’s
reputation as one of the best
gold miners in the State’s recent
history.
Harry Hoffman
his list is rich with people
who have thrived after
leaving Europe for a better
life in Australia.
Yet the story of 83-year-old
Harry Hoffman transcends the
horrors of nazi Europe and his
loss of close family members in
the Holocaust.
The Auschwitz survivor
migrated to Australia in 1949,
eventually working in real estate
and then setting up his property
development firm Ardross
Estates in 1996 with his
Perth-born wife Sylvia.
The fledgling company
completed subdivisions in
Cockburn, Canning and
Mundaring. Ardross has
holdings in Cervantes and
Jurien Bay after being a major
T
43
$182 million
LAND INVESTMENT,
DEVELOPMENT
Ardross Estates,
Beachridge Estate,
Drover’s Retreat
player in Albany and Bunbury.
Robbed of educational
opportunities, he has been a
major funder of arts, community
development and education
projects, including Dianella’s
Carmel School. The Orthodox
Jewish school published a book
about the benefactor’s life titled
Hate Never Sat at My Table.
After receiving an honorary
doctorate from Israel’s Hebrew
University, where he has
sponsored a leadership program,
he gave an insight into his
approach to business and life.
“I have personally strived to
contribute as much as I can to
society and behave as a model
citizen, adhering to learnings I
derived from my early childhood
Jewish education,” he said.
Julian Walter
I
t is ironic that Julian Walter
should be a man with a love
of all things vintage, given he
owes his fortune to an
industry that thrives on a
desire for something new.
Long before Mr Walter was
flying a 1941 Stearman bi-plane
across Australia for fun or
attending rallies in a 1921 Rolls
Royce Silver Ghost he was
establishing himself as one of
WA’s home building magnates.
Mr Walter’s rise began in 1983
when he founded J-Corp Pty Ltd,
ultimately growing it into a
diversified housing business
with annual turnover of close to
$300 million in two decades.
At his side in the early days
was business partner, Len
Buckeridge and J-Corp became
arguably the dominant player in
the sector.
When the pair parted ways in
2003 Mr Walter established JWH
Group.
He also launched defamation
action against his one-time
partner, claiming his reputation
had been damaged first by an
item in an internal BGC Group
newsletter and later by
46
$163 million
HOME BUILDING,
FARMING,
LIVESTOCK
BREEDING
JWH Group,
Plunkett, Cherylton,
Constructive Media
comments Mr Buckeridge made
in The West Australian.
Mr Walter walked away from
the legal battle in 2011.
In the meantime, JWH Group
has become a major player and
its brands include Rural
Building Company, Oswald
Homes and WA Country
Builders.
In addition to indulging in his
love of vintage transport, Mr
Walter has a number of
philanthropic interests.
These include a long
association with Telethon and
support for the Guide Dogs
Association and The Bridge
Project.
10 WA’S RICH LIST 2013
Marylyn New
M
arylyn New is
enjoying the simple
life after selling her
hotel empire this
year.
Ms New sold the iconic
Esplanade Hotel to Perth
property syndicator Primewest
for $88.5 million, settling the
deal in January.
A few months later she
completed her exit from the
hotel sector by selling Esplanade
River Suites in Como to Chinese
investment group Narada for $31
million.
After more than two decades
as a hands-on hotelier, she is
happy to enjoy a different pace.
“I have been pursuing my
interest in understanding the
meaning of life,” she said.
While she was reticent to
divulge exactly how she pursues
this endeavour, she said it does
involve sitting on the balcony at
her Cottesloe beachfront home.
She relished the opportunity
to spend more time with her
four daughters and five
grandchildren, and is looking
forward to a sixth grandchild.
“I live for people but I do not
miss being in business,” she
said.
“I went into business as a
$186 million
PROPERTY
Camellia Holdings,
MMAGS Holdings
42
challenge to prove that I could do
it, and now that I have, I’ve
moved on to other challenges.
“Those challenges involve
understanding the meaning of
life and I’m grateful that leaving
business has given me more time
to put into my family.”
The daughter of late Midland
Brick founder Ric New once
revealed she had set a goal to
make it in business while in her
teens, after she had been
overlooked for a role in the
family’s brick business because
of her gender.
She said her father had
respected her talents but his
refusal to bring her into the
family business came during an
era when a woman’s place was
considered to be in the kitchen.
Ms New said she had never set
out to make money, but somehow
it found her.
Mauro
Balzarini
his list prides itself on
being conservative with its
estimates of wealth, but we
may be way too low here given
recent events.
Mr Balzarini’s Wellard Rural
Exports business was hit by the
former Federal Labor
Government’s confused
approach to live animal exports,
including the ban on cattle
exports to Indonesia.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s
trip to Jakarta this month is
likely to be the catalyst for more
cattle exports, which could
provide a big boost to Mr
Balzarini over the next year. He
is likely to benefit as a livestock
owner, trader, exporter and
shipper. His empire stretches
from WA, via Indonesia and the
Middle East, to his native Italy.
The trained naval architect
has a fleet of ships working
closely with Wellard.
Her empire once skimmed
$200 million in value, primarily
because of her two hotels.
Her ambitious time at the
helm of the iconic Fremantle
hotel included renovations
which doubled its size.
Ms New has also spoken
previously of her passion for
something she calls “newable
energy”.
This goes beyond renewable
energies, such as solar power, to
encapsulate new types of
scientific research using
gravitational and magnetic
fields.
Despite her extensive wealth,
she has rallied against the
rampant consumerism in
society and the undue focus on
people’s appearances.
She once called on the public
to go back to basics and to
connect with nature.
Her Marine Parade home is a
tribute to her green
consciousness, with quadruple
brick walls used to cut cooling
and heating costs.
It is a design that would make
her father proud, after his brick
empire helped turn WA into the
double-brick capital of the
world.
Kim Macdonald
Peter Prendiville
BLOOMBERG
RICH LIST
t has been a long time since
one could call Peter
Prendiville simply a publican,
a noble art learnt from his
father Pat at the Balladonia
Roadhouse.
His business empire has
developed and bought hotels
throughout WA and across the
other side of the country in
north Queensland.
He added the well-located, but
rather tired Mangrove Resort
Hotel in Broome to his portfolio
in April in a $7.3 million-plus
deal.
Mr Prendiville is intensely
private about his business
affairs.
His highest-profile role has
been as chairman of Tourism
WA, recently criticising the
State Government for breaking
an election funding promise.
He argues tourism is
important for employment and
growth.
“It makes sense — the figures
all stack up,” he said.
1. Bill Gates
$US72b
Microsoft
2. Carlos Slim
$US65b
Telmex
3. Amancio Ortega $US61.1b
Zara
4. Warren Buffett $US57.2b
Berkshire Hathaway
5. Ingvar Kamprad $US49.5b
IKEA
6. Charles Koch
$US44.3b
Stainmaster
7. David Koch
$US44.3b
Lycra
8. Larry Ellison
$US37.8b
Oracle
9. Christy Walton $US36.1b
Wal-Mart
10. Jim Walton
$US35.9b
Wal-Mart
I
T
$205 million
FARMING, LIVESTOCK
EXPORTS
Wellard Rural Exports,
Wellard Agri Farms,
Siba Ships
40
$193 million
LIQUOR, TOURISM
Garrett Hospitality,
Cottesloe Beach Hotel,
Sandalford Wines, Hotel
Rottnest, Karratha
International
41
Geoff Prosser
G
eoff Prosser has built
and invested in the
commercial property
market in the South
West for most of his
working life.
With a ringside seat to the
large property market in
Bunbury, he has proven a
regional focus is no barrier to
being at the forefront of industry
trends.
As the principal of Citygate
Properties — and one of WA’s
biggest private landlords — Mr
Prosser attributes much of his
success in the competitive retail
industry to the ability to
change and not resist new
approaches to promote
consumer spending.
“If you always leave things
how they are, it’s boring and the
customer finds it boring,” he
said.
“I recognise a change and if
you look at change in the right
way, in a market sense, it’s
exciting. It’s not boring.”
At the Bunbury Homemaker
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Centre, which is ranked in size
as one of the top 10 large format
retail outlets in Australia,
Citigate has added a major
liquor store, office space and fast
food outlets to a standard bulky
goods outlet.
“You need to make retail look
current for the client and the
customer base of the day,” he
said.
His group plans a $65 million,
31,000sqm redevelopment of
Eaton Square Shopping Centre.
In recognition of Bunbury’s
high number of SUV owners,
bays on the centre’s new parking
39
$212 million
PROPERTY
Citygate
Properties.
Homemaker
Centre,
Eaton Fair
deck will be bigger to allow
customers to park easily.
For retirees, there will be
motorised scooter recharging
facilities.
The former Federal minister
and current WA Liberal Party
president started to amass his
property fortune in between
construction projects.
“Every time I finished a
project, to keep my core guys
together I’d build a shed, a
factory or commercial unit and
over the years I started to build
up more property,” he said.
It was then he developed an
interest in retail projects
tailored to consumer and tenant
needs.
Shying away from questions
about the size of his personal
fortune, Mr Prosser would only
concede to being very
conservative in his gearing.
“I don’t worry about what I’m
worth. I just keep doing it
because I love doing it and you
have to have a reason to get out
of bed in the morning.”
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12
Peter Larsen
he former maths teacher
flirted with a near
record-high share price for
listed education provider
Navitas as he pocketed $32.3
million in September.
Dr Larsen’s sell-down of his
holding in the company he
co-founded in 1994 was just his
second in four years, after
raising a more modest $8 million
in 2009.
The on-market sale took
advantage of a record run by
Navitas, now WA’s fifth-biggest
listed company and the secondbiggest non-mining concern
outside Wesfarmers.
T
38
$217 million
EDUCATION,
PROPERTY,
TOURISM
Navitas, Cape
Lodge
Dr Larsen retains 23.4 million
shares, or 6.2 per cent of
Navitas, which were worth as
much as $149 million at the
company’s market peak.
His wealth has funded entry
into a string of properties in the
South West, including Cape
Lodge resort.
He remains a director of
Navitas and retains a fierce
pride in its success, telling an
audience several years ago it
had demonstrated education
could be delivered “in a
commercial environment
without compromising the
nature of the profession”.
Nick Tana
e made a fortune with fast
food and is passing on to
his children an empire
that accountants and nutrionists
alike would love.
If food quality and security are
the major questions of the 21st
century, some of the answers will
be in the hands of Nick Tana’s
daughter Lisa and sons Vincent
and Peter.
With arguably WA’s biggest
horticultural business, the
family exports to Asia, the
Middle East and Europe.
The semi-retired Mr Tana
made a fortune building, buying
and selling the Red Rooster and
Chicken Treat fast food outlets.
The childhood migrant has
H
attributed his success in life to
the attitude brought by tens of
thousands of “new Australians”
who came here from Europe
after World War II to build a new
life and better themselves.
“The parents instilled that in
their children and their
children, by and large, took up
that challenge and went from
strength to strength,” he said.
“It is a very simple belief —
you put your head down and
your bum up and you do no
harm to anybody else.”
The Perth Glory co-founder
expanded his extensive interests
in horticulture in 1998 by buying
the trading name and key assets
of the troubled Sumich Group.
Flat-pack fortune: Alan Tribe and his wife Marisa.
Alan Tribe
e is anything but a
household name, yet he
possibly has more
products in more households
than any other West Australian.
He is sitting on a blue and gold
goldmine as the WA and South
Australian franchisee of
Swedish homewears giant IKEA.
His IKEA superstore in
Innaloo can create its own peak
hour traffic at the weekend,
seemingly immune to the
fluctuations in real estate or
home building markets.
IKEA benefits from uncertain
economic times as shoppers
seek savings in flat-pack
furniture, then enjoys a kick
when confidence abounds.
Our valuations of the IKEA
franchises are very conservative
H
37
$225 million
HORTICULTURE,
MANAGEMENT,
EXPORT, OLIVE OIL
Sumich, North East
Equity, Freshlink Export,
nib Stadium
$229 million
FURNITURE, RETAIL
IKEA franchises
PROPERTY
LEX Property
Management
36
given their solid WA growth
since moving from a relatively
small building in Osborne Park
as the global financial crisis was
hitting in 2008. A property trust
controlled by Mr Tribe owns the
$120 million-plus Innaloo
complex.
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Investment
Opportunity
Future
Location
Growth
‘The Rich List Wish List’-
John Garland
‘White Dog Farm’ Lower Chittering
A rare opportunity to combine luxury lifestyle with a desirable rural location
r Highest quality in every detail
r Designer residence with five star finish and B&B wing
r Two additional guest cottages of the same high standard
r Marbling Brook bisects the picturesque property
r Established vineyard and olive grove for personal enjoyment or development
r Only 70 minutes from Perth and 45 minutes to the Perth airport
White Dog Farm
$2.4 million
‘Harvey Springs’ Harvey
Location, Location, Location...!
r A South West Highway frontage mid way between Perth and Bunbury
r Entertainment facility to accommodate a multi-tourism destination –
restaurant, function centre, boutique brewery
r Extensive landscaping provides scope for outdoor concert, picnic, markets
and exhibition areas
r Gateway to the South West. Strong visual position
r Water availability to enhance the commercial benefits
$2.5 million
Harvey Springs
‘Maranup Waters’ Bridgetown
Bridgetown Grandeur. Three early selected titles. Water the feature.
r One of the South-West’s finest lifestyle properties
r Major waterway with a year long flow
r Unique riparian spring
r Water provides potential for future tourism or horticultural pursuits
r Variety of elevated home sites suited to lifestyle living
r Granite loam soils and excellent fencing support a 200 breeder cattle investment
Maranup Waters
www.garlandinternational.com.au
$2.9 million
Contact John Garland
P: 08 9481 7157 M: 0418 923 347
E: johng@garlandinternational.com.au
14
Dale Alcock
I
f you are a mining executive
wanting to vent your spleen
about labour costs, it is
strongly suggested you don’t
do it around Dale Alcock.
You would likely be on the
receiving end of a spray going
something like this: “You’re the
idiots who bidded up the wages.
You’re the guys who stole all
our apprentices and trades
people. You don’t contribute to
training and you should do.
And you expect everyone to cry
for you now because you are
having it a bit tough. Suck it
up.”
Mr Alcock fears these words
cannot be uttered in this State
because people will think the
speaker has just landed from
another planet and does not
understand the sacrosanct
status of the mining industry.
“It’s like all praise to the great
one,” he said.
Mr Alcock has every right to
voice his opinion.
The Kellerberrin-raised
builder can lay claim to being
the biggest trainer of
apprentices in the Australia
through his 26-year business
partnership with fellow former
brickie Garry Brown-Neaves.
With about 220 apprentices on
the payroll, it is a program that
their ABN Group has developed
and kept going through a
downturn in the home building
market in recent years and in
the face of strong demand from
resources projects offering
skilled workers big pay packets.
Mr Alcock said he and Mr
Brown-Neaves had a policy of
keeping on workers as much as
they could through tough times
so that they were ready when
sentiment picked up in the
building game.
“We know it is a cyclical
business,” he said. “If you get
rid of good people you don’t get
them back again. We tend to
repay loyalty back to our staff. It
leaves us in better condition to
be able to pick up our ratings
when the market recovers.
“Our growth has been
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Da
in
ca
be
we
wi
be
inv
re
wo
Au
ap
pr
wo
sa
ou
ro
an
bu
an
up
tig
ab
ab
wo
r
on
at
ed
g
m
s.
Dale Alcock with his wife Jan and daughters Libby and Sophie.
s
s
internally funded, we don’t
carry external debt. Without
being blase or arrogant about it,
we can choose to run it how we
wish to run it. We are not
beholden to banks and external
investors for where and how our
returns are.
“If we were, we probably
would not be running
Australia’s biggest
apprenticeship training
program because someone
would be over our shoulders
saying ‘That takes away from
our return’. We are laying the
roots down for a longer game
and a more sustainable
business.
“We have a greater workforce
and a greater capacity to kick
up by keeping staff through the
tighter period. It is not just
about short-term profits, it is
about reinvestment in our
workforce.”
The lack of debt in the
t
o
It
operations has not only given
Mr Alcock and Mr
Brown-Neaves discretion on
staffing levels, it has also
allowed them to expand into
Melbourne.
The group now claims to be in
the top 10 builders in the
Victorian capital after engaging
the market with a two-brand
strategy, its entry level
Homebuyers Centre and its
upmarket Boutique Homes.
The Victoria strategy is
$243 million
HOME BUILDING
ABN Group, Dale Alcock
Homes, Webb &
Brown-Neaves
FINANCE
Resolve Finance,
Investor Assist
34
expected to begin paying
dividends this financial year.
“We have entered it as a
major builder, not a small
builder building up,” Mr Alcock
said.
“That has magnified the
investment but it also says if
we’re going to go there, let’s go
there as a large player.”
With almost 3200 homes built
in 2012-13, the ABN Group is
Australia’s second-biggest home
builder behind Len
Buckeridge’s WA-focused BGC
empire.
There have been signs of
improvement at the lower end of
the housing market this year
that is starting to flow through
to slabs being laid.
Mr Alcock estimates his
group’s building numbers could
head towards 4000 this year
thanks to Melbourne operations
gaining traction and the pick up
at the lower end of the WA
market.
Mr Alcock and Mr
Brown-Neaves have also been
big investors in property
developments, including office
buildings, in recent years.
After being a talented but
disinterested student in high
school, Mr Alcock became a
third-generation builder in a
family business.
His father Dennis died in 2010,
aged 78, after a short but
painful battle with
mesothelioma.
His questions about
asbestos-related diseases were
the catalysts for an industry
foundation bankrolling
research into worker health and
wellbeing.
Peter Meurs
he man who made his
fortune building
engineering group
WorleyParsons is not afraid of
spreading his cash or his
expertise around.
Accustomed to putting his
money where his mouth is, the
businessman ploughed some of
his nest egg into Fortescue
Metals Group while working as
director of developments.
He has also taken on the job of
chairman of a major fundraising
campaign for Ronald McDonald
House, which helps take care of
sick children.
The businessman’s approach
to life is strongly informed by his
lifelong attachment to the
T
Mormon Church, where he is an
influential leader.
In a Church video Mr Meurs
said the world was crying out for
honest leaders who would help
and serve others.
Though enjoying business
success, he argued his greatest
blessing was his family.
35
$235 million
MINING,
SERVICES
Fortescue Metals
Group,
WorleyParsons
16
Divirgilio family
I
Garry Brown-Neaves
is business partner Dale
Alcock is the very public
face of the highly
successful ABN Group home
building conglomerate. Garry
Brown-Neaves is the media-shy
senior partner.
We say senior not just because
Mr Brown-Neaves is two years
past the official retirement age
of 65 but also because 52-year-old
Mr Alcock insisted, out of what
seems like a very deep respect,
that we have his partner higher
up WA’s Rich List
Mr Brown-Neaves established
Webb & Brown-Neaves with his
former business partner John
Webb in 1978 but made what was
probably the decision of a
lifetime when he backed a
26-year-old Mr Alcock into Dale
Alcock Homes in 1987.
Mr Brown-Neaves, a former
bricklayer who was kicked out
of Scarborough Senior High
School at age 14, has previously
said he did not view himself as a
huge success.
“It’s just opportunities have
presented themselves and we’ve
taken them,” he said.
“For us, it is about creating
companies that build quality
housing, employing people and
putting money back into the
community.”
Mr Alcock said he and Mr
H
$260 million
BUILDING, PROPERTY
ABN Group, Homebuyers
Centre, Boutique Homes,
Boeing Plumbing
32
Brown-Neaves agreed on most
major business decisions,
including the one to retain staff
and apprentices through
housing industry downturns.
He said the two former
brickies accepted there were
costs in keeping a high number
of apprentices but saw it as a
good reinvestment of their
profits and one that had to be
maintained.
“You can’t do that on a shortterm basis,” Mr Alcock said.
“Over a three-year
apprenticeship you have to see
them through, otherwise you are
a mongrel really.”
Mr Brown-Neaves did his
apprenticeship with his father
and set about building financial
independence, owning his first
house within five years.
t has been a quiet but
relentless rise by the seven
Divirgilio boys.
Eschewing the publicity
embraced by city rivals, the
low-profile brothers — Lou (53),
Dominic (50), Robert (48), John
(46), Stephen (45), Michael (43)
and David (42) — have built one
of the State’s biggest car retail
empires from small beginnings
nearly 20 years ago.
Perth-born to Italian
immigrants, their DVG
Automotive Group now boasts 30
new and used car dealerships on
nine sites, turning over an
estimated $700 million a year
and employing more than 700
people.
The multi-franchise
dealerships don’t miss much,
embracing Holden, Toyota,
Mitsubishi, Nissan, Hyundai,
Suzuki, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge,
Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Kia,
Skoda, Volkswagen, Isuzu UTE
and China’s Great Wall.
The business also includes
customer financing and vehicle
servicing arms, the latter
recently augmented by a new
joint venture in the Pilbara with
Aboriginal group Gumala.
It is a far cry from the
Divirgilios’ entry into the motor
industry in the 1980s with
Dominic and Robert’s purchase
of a small Mount Lawley car
yard, Motor King.
A few years later, their
ambitions aroused, the duo
sounded out their eldest brother,
Lou, then working the money
markets in New York, about a
partnership.
DVG was born in 1996 with the
purchase of a Mitsubishi
new-car dealership in
Wanneroo. Lou says the initial
aim was “to get established” in
what is renowned as a tough,
low-margin industry and create
a business able to successfully
support the family.
It has proven that and more.
The younger brothers were
absorbed into the network as
DVG grew steadily through
acquisition, picking off suitable
opportunities as they arose.
Significantly, it owns the land on
which its dealerships are
situated.
The one sibling who hasn’t
joined the business, sister
Marianna, retains another
connection to the group through
husband Guido Berini, DVG’s
financial controller.
31
$262 million
CAR SALES,
SERVICING
DVG Automotive
Group, Midland
Toyota, Prosser
Toyota, DVG Goldy
Holden and Suzuki
Lou heads the group as
managing director. But his
brothers are all intimately
involved as directors and dealer
principals across DVG, meeting
as a group every week with Lou
to go over business.
Like the rest of the industry,
DVG has enjoyed record sales in
recent years, thanks to low
interest rates and the strong
Australian dollar, which has
reset car affordability at its best
levels since the 1970s.
DVG is estimated to be selling
14,000 cars a year.
Lou says that DVG will reach a
critical mass in WA at sales of
about $1 billion. “We’re not that
far off,” he said. And with
good-priced opportunities in WA
drying up on the back of recent
consolidation, an east coast
expansion looms.
DVG enjoys a good
relationship with its bankers, so
debt funding of any push on to
the east coast would not be an
issue.
However, there is no doubt the
Divirgilios could raise
considerable alternative funds
from a partial sale of DVG
through a stockmarket float.
Like other attractive businesses,
it is regularly sounded out by
hopeful brokers and investment
banks keen to lure it on to the
trading boards.
Lou would not be drawn on
DVG’s future, though he
conceded a listing was one
option.
He said the group was
working hard on its corporate
governance and structure to
better position itself to be able to
act quickly on any of its
ownership options if need be in
a few years time.
Little wonder then, he and his
brothers will be closely
watching how rival John
Hughes’ proposed float plays out
over the next few months.
Mr Hughes is believed to be
seeking to sell 40 per cent of his
$650-million-a-year, Victoria
Park-based business via an
initial public offer through
Euroz Securities early next year.
Sean Smith
Th
Do
D
O
tod
tom
mu
of
ob
sk
co
co
an
re
an
an
co
hi
wh
inv
Au
Su
es,
nt
to
n
is
ut
s
ar.
Fini
family
embers of the Fini family
have been profilic
players in Perth
property investment and
development over the past 30
years.
Set on a path by their Italian
migrant father Tony, Don and
Adrian Fini have continued to
build significant holdings
throughout metropolitan Perth.
Since selling out of the
company behind Little
Creatures brewery last year,
Adrian has spread his wings
with developments in Fremantle
and the Perth CBD.
This includes deals with his
FJM Property partners David
Mack and Barry Jones, who also
backed Little Creatures.
Fellow former Art Gallery of
WA director Helen Cook said
Adrian’s relaxed manner “belies
his sophistication and
understanding of social and
community values”.
M
33
$255 million
PROPERTY
DEVELOPMENT,
INVESTMENT
Finloy, Fini Olives
Stan
Quinlivan
The Divirgilio brothers: Stephen, Michael, David, Lou, Robert, John and
Dominic. Picture: Michael O’Brien
Danny Hill
ne of veteran businessman
Danny Hill’s favourite lines is:
“As human beings we all want
today what won’t come for many
tomorrows”.
A $100 million-plus tomorrow is now
much closer for Mr Hill after 21 years
of being an interested and patient
observer of the battle over bankers
skinning and boning Alan Bond’s cash
cow, Bell Group.
A settlement deal officially
confirmed last month by liquidators
and bankers is set to provide a sizable
return on a $200 million debt Mr Hill
and business associates Brian Coppin
and Wayne Bowen bought after Bell
collapsed in April, 1991.
Mr Hill left Perth a decade ago with
his family to live in Monaco, from
where he manages his overseas
investments. He has entrusted his
Australian assets to former City to
Surf winner Stephen Spiers.
O
29
$295 million
PROPERTY,
LITIGATION
Chancery House,
Sunshine Cove,
IMF (Australia)
tan Quinlivan, one of
Perth’s quieter high-flyers,
is soaring at the moment.
Though he likes to keep off the
publicity radar, recent
developments in the property
field will focus the spotlight on
his business empire.
As the owner of Cottesloe’s
Ocean Beach Hotel, Mr
Quinlivan benefits significantly
from the recent decision to allow
“higher” rise — to eight stories
— on the beachfront. He
confirmed he would move ahead
with development of the site.
Also on the high-rise radar is
an 11-storey office block
development in Osborne Park,
which is close to approval.
Property is a huge part of his
empire but Mr Quinlivan made
his fortune in transport,
through Skippers Transport and
Skippers Aviation.
Skippers Transport trucks big
and small have been a familiar
sight around the State for
decades and his aviation
interests are well established.
He is one of the many people
on WA’s Rich List who are
beneficiaries of the State’s
S
resources boom even if they are
not known for their mining
interests. Skippers Aviation has
29 regional turboprops that
operate regular transport flights
as well as fly-in, fly-out charters.
The airline has also taken
delivery of two 98-seat Fokker
100 jets which should enter
service shortly and will be the
pride of a fleet worth more than
$135 million.
The airline holds the contract
to serve the inland towns of
Meekatharra, Wiluna, Laverton,
Leinster, Leonora and Mt
Magnet and it also serves
Kalbarri, Carnarvon and
Monkey Mia without
government subsidy.
30
$290 million
AVIATION,
TRUCKING,
PROPERTY
Ocean Beach
Hotel,
Tilden Park Stud,
Skippers
Transport,
Skippers Aviation
18
John Hughes
J
Peter and Theo Kailis at their
Leederville store. Picture: Lee Griffith
Kailis
family
t has been well over a year
since news broke that the
Kailis family appointed
PricewaterhouseCoopers to
advise them how to sell the
heart and soul of their empire:
the fish business.
Things have been quiet ever
since and there has been
speculation the sale process fell
victim to the complexities of
being a family affair — family
members have different fingers
in different pies.
They are lucrative pies,
according to 2012 results, which
show the family business
turned over $461.9 million and
made a profit of $9.6 million.
It’s the kind of money which
patriarch George Palassis Kailis
could only have dreamt of when
he came to Australia from the
Greek island of Castellorizio in
1914 to sell fish from a basket.
George’s sons — Peter, Theo,
Michael and Victor — have
played a part in building what
has become a shining light of
migrant success in WA
business.
I
Ben Harvey
26
$314 million
FISHING, FOOD
DISTRIBUTION,
RESTAURANTS
Kailis Bros, National
Fisheries, Kailis Fish
Market Cafe
ohn Hughes may be 77 and
set to float some of his car
sales company, but he has
no plans to reduce his
60-hour working week.
Mr Hughes claims he has been
“infatuated and obsessed” with
the motor vehicle industry since
he first became a clerk at
Attwood Motors as a 20-year-old.
He set up the Paramotors
chain ten years later, took over
the Skipper Bailey Motor
Company in Victoria Park in
1980 and changed its name to
John Hughes in 2005.
His 550 staff sold nearly 21,000
cars last year and the iconic WA
business, which has become a
household name, turned over
$650 million.
His passion for the industry
does not appear to have waned,
and he can still be found on the
showroom floor talking to
customers six days a week.
Mr Hughes plans to float some
of his company early next year,
and expects to keep up his work
schedule for another ten years.
However, he said the float was
important partly as longer-term
succession planning because
none of his four children had
any interest in running his car
empire.
Despite his keen interest in
health and fitness and longevity
that runs in his family genes,
Mr Hughes said he had to
consider the future.
“I don’t want people to read
into this that I’m retiring or
stepping back or taking any less
time in the office because that’s
not the purpose,” he said.
“The main reason is
succession planning and
retirement of debt.”
Mr Hughes, the son of a bus
driver father and a bus
conductor mother, was a
nervous child who grew up in
working class Fremantle with a
stutter.
While he has risen to the top
of his game, he said he has little
interest in living an extravagent
life.
He said he and his second wife
Margarita enjoyed good food,
wine and holidays, but he did
not have the time or inclination
to indulge in luxuries such as
boats and racehorses.
After years of appearing in
adverts on local television
screens and radio, Mr Hughes
has become a bit of a local
celebrity and Margarita is
regarded as one of Perth’s
A-listers.
“I’m proud for her sake and I
get a vicarious kick from it,” he
said.
“I’m proud of her, proud of the
way she presents herself.”
on further project spending late
in 2012. Since then AMCI has
been the centre of speculation it
was seeking a buyer for its
share of the project.
But while Aquila’s market
valuation has lagged, its cash
balance has not.
After selling three assets for a
combined $617 million over the
last 18 months, at the end of
June the company was carrying
$590 million in cash.
That is more than enough to
back the development of its
smaller assets, the most likely
option being the $368 million
Washpool coking coal project in
Queensland, or acquire new
options from the plethora of
distressed assets seeking
cashed-up buyers on the global
resources market.
With production at its
half-owned Eagle Downs coking
coal mine set to begin in 2017,
there’s plenty to come at Aquila
Resources, even if the dream of
making it big in the Pilbara is
over for the foreseeable future.
25
$322 million
CAR SALES,
SERVICE AND
FINANCING
John Hughes
Victoria Park, John
Hughes
Warehouse, Park
Ford, RV Centre
Tony Poli
ith the dream of a major
new iron ore project in
the Pilbara now
officially on ice, Tony Poli’s
Aquila Resources is focusing on
the potential development of its
metallurgical coal projects, and
casting its eyes around the globe
for new acquisitions.
The end of the bull run for
iron ore stocks in mid-2012 —
when iron ore prices tumbled
and took with them the hopes
that China would continue to
bankroll multi-billion dollar
iron ore projects to feed its
hungry mills — also cut much of
the blue sky valuation of Aquila.
At its height, Aquila was
worth more than $13 a share. Its
W
average price over the last year
was about $2.30.
With its re-valuation went
much of the paper worth of Mr
Poli, whose 30 per cent stake is
the foundation of his wealth,
briefly making him a paper
billionaire in 2008, before the
global financial crisis.
Mr Poli called time on
Aquila’s West Pilbara project in
July, abandoning talks with the
China Development Bank over
funding for the $7.4 billion
project.
Its huge capital costs were a
major issue, as was a dispute
with joint venture partner
American Metals and Coal
International, which went cold
28
$298 million
IRON ORE
Aquila Resources
2
2
Tony Lennon
T
a
p
le
nt
27
ife
n
$311 million
LAND
DEVELOPMENT,
SYNDICATION
Peet
ng
n
l
ng
la
f
espite having made the
shock decision last year to
sell most of his stake in
Automotive Holdings Group,
Vern Wheatley’s wealth is still
heavily tied up in the car game.
Mr Wheatley set himself up
before the 2005 float of AHG as
the landlord of many of its car
yards, including Wangara’s
popular automotive alley.
In a rebuff to his tenants and
former lieutenants, he sold
most of his AHG stake last year
to major listed rival AP Eagers
in a cash and scrip deal.
This put Mr Wheatley and his
family in the powerful position
of being top-three shareholders
in both groups.
The Wheatleys will have a
whip hand if AP Eagers decides
D
he
S,
D
G
s
n
s
k
e
in 2004 and oversaw the
company as it became
Australia’s biggest residential
land syndicator.
Peet has 75 owned, syndicated
and joint venture projects across
four States and more than 50,000
lots in its land bank.
Though more aware than most
of property market cycles, he
remains a fan.
“Through all the years that
I’ve observed property, it’s been
a very good investment,” he
said.
“For someone wanting to own
their home today and not rent,
it’s far more likely the value of
their home will go up in the
long-term than stay where it is
now.”
Vern Wheatley
I
he
n
ony Lennon predicted that
2012-13 would be tough for
balancing land releases
with tentative consumers.
Once again, the property
veteran was proved right.
The rebound in land sales this
year was undermined by losses
in Queensland for his listed
vehicle Peet, the development
company he purchased 27 years
ago and later floated.
In a career spanning 42 years,
Mr Lennon steered Peet through
the Australian property
market’s cycles but has a less
hands-on role these days as
non-executive chairman.
He was executive chairman of
Peet before it was listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange
24
$355 million
PROPERTY.
CAR SALES AND
SERVICING
Automotive Holdings
Group, AP Eagers, Jove
Pty Ltd
to try to take over the
Perth-based AHG, which was
built by Mr Wheatley on
business foundations laid by his
father Sydney.
The ambitious son oversaw
the creation of a strong
management structure that
allowed AHG to make a
relatively smooth transition
onto the stock exchange.
Mr Wheatley can be credited
with building a strong public
company, yet he is an intensely
private man.
His 12 commandments of
business are listed as including
“look after your staff ”, “make
some money and have some
fun” and “you need to have
the right site, own it and
control it”.
Nigel
Satterley
A
s one of Australia’s top
private property
developers Nigel
Satterley has been
riding the fortunes of
WA’s economy and in turn the
State’s housing market for
decades. His company, the
Satterley Property Group, has
sold more than 50,000 home sites
at 130 residential developments.
With discerning customers
and changing consumer trends,
he sees the business of turning
big tracts of land into enduring
communities as a challenging
one.
“The home building industry
is very competitive and we learn
the most from California and
the east coast of the US where
they are using lots of innovation
for smaller spaces,” Mr
Satterley said.
“We take bits and pieces and
modified ideas from there and
apply them to Perth’s housing
market.”
Like a lot of industry insiders,
Mr Satterley says consumers
are now more cautious.
“At the coal face what we are
seeing is the desire take on less
debt but smaller, better-designed
houses that are close to parks
and amenities are still a good
thing for the balance sheet,” he
said.
In Perth, the Satterley Group
made its name developing
master-planned communities.
Together with a private
syndicate, the group this year
expanded its presence in the
23
$360 million
LAND
DEVELOPMENT,
SYNDICATIONS,
ART COLLECTION,
REAL ESTATE
Satterley Property
Group, Swansea
Gallery
Victorian housing market with
the purchase of a 125ha
development site on the
outskirts of Melbourne for $100
million.
“The Melbourne market is
quite similar to Perth so we feel
very comfortable there,” said
Mr Satterley, who spends about
five days each month at the
Victorian projects.
“We have some very good
projects and we plan to grow
strongly and sensibly in
Melbourne.”
Mr Satterley’s own residential
plans also made the news this
year when he and his wife
Denise paid $17.5 million for one
of Perth’s most expensive homes
on the riverfront in Peppermint
Grove.
The deal for the
heritage-listed mansion
Chiritta, which boasts seven
bedrooms, a sunroom and a
five-car garage, set a new price
record for a conventional
residential block in Peppermint
Grove.
Rhonda Wyllie
here have been plenty of
changes in the names on
WA’s Rich List, but Rhonda
Wyllie could become the first
case of the name changing but
the person remaining the same.
The Perth social scene is alive
with talk of Mrs Wyllie’s plans to
marry part-time Nine
Entertainment Company
executive Jeff Browne.
Friends of Mrs Wyllie say she
is enjoying life again after
grieving deeply following the
death of her husband Bill Wyllie
in 2007.
The legendary dealmaker, who
fought a long battle with cancer,
left Mrs Wyllie and his children
a business empire with assets
exceeding $500 million and
strong management.
The flagship company Wyllie
Group had some lean years after
losing its founder then being hit
by the global financial crisis, but
bounced back last year with a
$22 million profit.
Mrs Wyllie owns more than 70
per cent of Wyllie Group and has
stakes in extensive other assets.
She is more often seen in the
social pages than the business
T
pages, a reflection of her
position on the A-list of
Perthonalities. She is a keen
traveller.
Friends and fundraisers will
be hoping she continues to call
Perth home — or at least one of
her homes — if she gets hitched
to Mr Browne.
22
$376 million
INVESTMENT,
PROPERTY
Wyllie Group, Perth
Convention and
Exhibition Centre,
Sorrento Quay
Cardaci family
M
ajor contract wins
with Rio Tinto and
Woodside this year
put the names
Cardaci and
Centurion on the business map.
From a one-truck operation
started by Sicilian migrants
Frank and Carl Cardaci in 1968,
two generations of the Cardaci
family have quietly built a
major transport, services and
national property empire.
Though proud of their blue
collar roots, one source said the
Cardacis drew on top-flight
expertise in supply chain and
logistic that allowed them to
more than match their higher
profile rivals.
Centurion is an advanced
business now under the control
of sons Philip and Marc, an
economist who worked as a
property investment analyst
before joining the family firm.
The family took a punt two
years ago when they bought
rival Oilfield and General
Transport, which had a contract
with Woodside that everyone
expected to be shortly put up for
grabs. This year’s extension
with Woodside and new deal
with Rio means the family can
use the contracts, potentially
worth hundreds of millions of
dollars, to underpin further
expansion of their businesses.
Work on around 30,000sqm of
extra warehouse costing about
$30 million started this year at
Centurion’s base in Hazelmere,
expanding the facility’s total
size to 150,000sqm.
Centurion is also expanding
its Dampier operation to fulfil
its Woodside obligations and
win other work.
The family’s CFC Group
flagship bought the minerals
processing company Cape
Crushing and Earthmoving
from struggling engineering
group VDM in a $53 million deal
in 2011.
City dwellers would likely be
most familiar with the
Underground Services Australia
divisions, whose trucks can be
seen laying optic fibre cable in
new and established areas.
21
$385 million
TRANSPORT
Centurion
CONTRACTING
Cape Crushing,
Underground Services
Australia, JCB Equipment
1
Rod Jones
F
or Rod Jones, part of the
attraction of appointing
a family investment
officer is having a
gatekeeper to field the
growing number of approaches
from investors and fund
managers offering to help him
make better use of his wealth.
Guided by its own
management, Mr Jones’
Hoperidge Capital now oversees
the family trust’s widening
investment portfolio, allowing
him to focus on Navitas, the
education provider he founded
with Peter Larsen.
The portfolio is supported by
the proceeds of Mr Jones’ $48.5
million partial sale of his
shareholding in the listed
Navitas in May.
“Part of doing things
appropriately is ensuring that
you diversify . . . but I also
recognise that Navitas will
always be my major love,” Mr
Jones told The West Australian
four months later.
“Do I need to sell any more
(shares)? No. I’ve sold enough to
be able to do all the things I want
20
$390 million
EDUCATION
SERVICES
Navitas
to do. It’s that simple.”
Funded by Navitas’s
sharemarket success, Mr Jones
and his children have
demonstrated a willingness to
pursue other business interests.
Both sons, Scott and Shane, have
been involved with businesses
linked with their father and the
family’s investments.
Shane is chief commercial
officer at Midland-based drilling
company Enerdrill and also
managed the development of
independent electricity retailer
Perth Energy’s spin-off $100
million Merredin power project
two years ago.
Scott, chief operating officer
of Navitas’s media education
business, is a director of Mark
Bouris’s listed financial
planning and mortgage broking
business, Yellow Brick Road, in
which family members hold at
least 3.1 million shares.
However, Mr Jones’ wealth
remains anchored by Navitas,
which was set up to provide
mainly international students
with pathway education
programs into Australian
universities.
Having begun life with a
single partnership with Edith
Cowan University and 198
students in 1994, in the last
financial year it enrolled 21,000
students across 30 colleges and
managed campuses in
Australia, the UK, Canada,
Singapore, the US, Sri Lanka
and Kenya.
Shares in Navitas have this
year traded at record highs
above $6.36, valuing Mr Jones’
remaining 12 per cent stake of 45
million shares at $287 million.
Dr Larsen retains 8.2 per cent
after having also sold down a
portion of his holding in
September, pocketing more than
$32 million.
Bartlett & Sayers
P
Connected: Carl Cardaci (second from left) with
politician Malcolm Turnbull, Philip Cardaci, Swan
MP Steve Irons and Marc Cardaci in 2011.
n
Fred Rae & family
T
n
G
g,
s
nt
A
19
ng
n
fter the $500 million sale of
its WA Gull fuel retailing
business in 2010, the
family of Fred Rae retained an
indirect interest as the landlord
of many Gull sites across the
State. Following the aggressive
pricing and canny marketing
model they employed so
successfully building Gull in
WA, the Raes are now focussing
their business-building skills
across the Tasman.
After a career building
houses, Fred Rae made the move
into petrol retailing around the
time self-service was kicking off
in the mid-1970s.
$392 million
PROPERTY
Gull WA sites
Bunbury Tower
FUEL
STATIONS
Gull New
Zealand
Gull New Zealand is now at
the forefront of arguably the
next generation of dimishing
service, lowering prices at
so-called service stations
through unmanned operations.
About one-quarter of its service
stations on New Zealand’s
North Island are unmanned.
The Rae family operation
takes credit for helping
motorists, regardless of whether
they are customers, through the
so-called Gull effect. As an
Automobile Association analyst
told the New Zealand Herald
recently, competion hotspots are
created around Gull stations.
eter Bartlett and Ron
Sayers have a friendship
that goes back to
kindergarten.
They have built major
businesses together and been
there for each other through
marriages and divorces, as well
as good and ill health.
It is also a relationship that
has been tested to the limits,
such as during the sale of their
joint venture underground
contracting group Barminco, in
a private equity play that has
struggled to get support for a
sharemarket float.
Yet the biggest test arose after
these best of mates were
involved in tax minimisation
schemes 13 years ago that helped
slash tax on about $50 million of
profit from Barminco and other
businesses. They subsequently
became enmeshed in a major
investigation by the Australian
Taxation Office and Australian
Crime Commission.
A Supreme Court jury is
likely to decide within days
whether these friends conspired
to cause a loss to the
Commonwealth over alleged
dealings linked to protect tax
minimisation schemes.
A guilty verdict is likely to see
them behind bars for quite a
stretch considering their former
accountant Trevor Thomson
served 13 months in jail after
pleading guilty over his role.
Though a decision on guilt or
innocence will require a
MINING
CONTRACTING
Ausdrill,
Barminco,
FMR
Investments
detailed examination of complex
evidence, what has been made
clear in the trial is the level of
overlap in the business affairs of
Mr Bartlett and Mr Sayers.
Mr Sayers disclosed his 50 per
cent stake in Barminco to the
tax office but it was otherwise a
closely guarded secret.
It seems there was a concern
that there could be a perception
of conflict of interest given Mr
Sayers is the founder and major
shareholder of listed drilling
company Ausdrill.
What Mr Sayers’ premature
departure would mean for
Ausdrill — and shareholders,
including Mr Barlett — remains
to be seen, given the group
floundered early last decade
when Mr Sayers was in
semi-retirement after suffering a
stroke.
ᔢ Editor’s note: Mr Bartlett and
Mr Sayers previously had
separate entries in WA’s Rich
List. They are now consolidated
because it is to too hard to
estimate their individual wealth.
given their overlapping interests.
Peter Wright
Jasmyn Wright
pwright@re88.com.au
jwright@re88.com.au
0438 727 476
0409 106 766
The Inner City Residential Market Leaders
call us today for free expert advice on:
2132003pJEMM241013
0
d
18
$405 million
Residential Sales
Project Marketing
Residential Management
45
nt
2 / 98 Terrace Road, East Perth WA 6004 Office: (08) 9200 6168 Fax: (08) 9218 8860
an
Selling Property, Not Promises
www.re88.com.au
Caratti family
I
Gordon Martin
ver the past 40 years, Gordon Martin has
transformed a Coogee business founded to
turn out copper sulphate for the agriculture
sector into a national, multi-product chemicals
producer.
Coogee Chemicals’ growing network includes a
sodium cyanide joint venture at Kwinana in
partnership with Wesfarmers’ CSBP, Australia’s
only methanol plant, at Laverton, and a
chlor-alkali plant in Brisbane.
The plants are supported by chemicals storage
terminals at Kwinana, Port Hedland, Townsville
and Gladstone. Kwinana also hosts Coogee’s
petroleum fuel import terminal, WA’s biggest.
Mr Martin has won various business honours
for his leadership of Coogee, including recognition
in Ernst & Young’s 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year
awards.
He remains at the
$450 million
helm as executive
chairman though
CHEMICALS,
succession plans are
being cemented with
PROPERTY
the elevation through
Coogee
the ranks of son Tim,
Chemicals
now Coogee’s
managing director.
O
17
f you thought the House
of Hancock was divided,
then you ain’t seen
nothing yet.
Welcome to the House
of Caratti, where the only
communication between
brothers Allen and John
seems to be either via or
near lawyers.
A reporter from The West
Australian recently had the
rare privilege of witnessing
two of these encounters.
One occasion was when
Allen dropped in to watch
the trial of a businessman
who had incurred John’s
wrath after ripping off their
mother Maddeliene.
The insults between the
brothers were as colourful
as the offers to sort things
out man-to-man.
The other occasion was
when John gave evidence
on behalf of jailed
businessman Kevin Pollock
in an unsuccessful action
against Allen over a land
development venture.
To borrow the words of
Justice Jeremy Edelman,
the significant animosity
between John and his
younger brother was
“palpable in his demeanour
and in his evidence”.
Dismissing John’s
testimony, the judge said
the elder brother showed an
“extremely hostile
demeanour”.
John Caratti
Allen Caratti
He also pointed to the
degree of “enmity and
anger” between the
brothers and their history
of litigation.
One piece of litigation
goes to the very heart of
what constitutes their
family fortune. At stake in
their own Supreme Court
battle is land holdings
valued at $1 billion
sprawled across
south-western WA.
It includes the biggest
holding of farming land in
the Esperance area, held in
companies that are
indisputably part of the
Caratti family empire and
in others officially owned
by Allen’s second wife Tina
Bazzo or by other close
relatives. The disputed
assets also include
residential and industrial
subdivisions, undeveloped
land on urban fringes, city
office buildings and profits
from successful projects.
John claims in his legal
action the Bazzo-linked land
holdings are actually
part of a family
partnership, which also
includes land inherited
when their father Mick
died in a car crash in 1992.
The legal action is being
fought by Ms Bazzo and
Allen’s side of the family,
who argue the investments
are separate from the
Caratti family partnership.
As with Hancock
Prospecting, internal fights
have not stopped the Caratti
family from growing its
businesses and prospering
in the boom.
John and his sons
Michael, Nathan and Aaron
have continued to work on
developments in Malaga
and a new large-format
retail centre on
Scarborough Beach Road,
Osborne Park.
Their focus is on assets
that are undisputably part
of the Caratti partnership.
Allen works on assets
whose ownership may one
day be decided by the WA
Supreme Court.
ᔢ In our estimate of the
family’s wealth, we have
included assets whose
ultimate ownership is hotly
contested in John’s legal
action. This is not a
reflection of the merit or
otherwise of the action, but
rather a matter of narrative
convenience.
16
$457 million
PROPERTY,
DEVELOPMENT
Navarac, Venetian
Nominees, Gucce
Holdings
Chris Ellison
he managing director of
listed contractor and iron
ore miner Mineral
Resources may not be the face of
WA’s mining success stories but
in many ways, Chris Ellison
best typifies how to make a
fortune based on a strong work
ethic, pragmatism and a decent
dose of street smarts.
From his humble beginnings
as a penniless teenager from
New Zealand who came to seek
a better life in Australia, Mr
Ellison has become one of the
State’s richest individuals. And
he retains the title of the owner
of WA’s — and Australia’s —
most expensive house with his
$57.5 million purchase in 2009 of
Angela Bennett’s Mosman Park
mansion.
T
It is typical of Mr Ellison’s
pragmatic approach that he saw
the purchase as portfolio
diversification (most of his
wealth remains tied up in his
14.5 per cent stake in the $2.1
billion-valued MinRes) as well
as a belief he was getting a good
deal on a 7567sqm parcel of
river-front land.
14
$473 million
MINING,
CONTRACTING
Mineral Resources
Mr Ellison set up pipeline
contracting business PIHA with
Bob Gavranich in 1993 which
became one of the pillars of
MinRes, which today also
focuses on ore processing and
has a fast-growing iron ore
mining division.
Mr Ellison is media-shy
although in the past year he and
his wife Tia have become
prominent in WA’s
philanthropic circles, donating
to causes such as Telethon
Speech and Hearing Centre and
aligning MinRes as a benefactor
of the PMH Foundation’s
regional assistance fund.
Mr Ellison has not forgotten
his roots: he is New Zealand’s
honorary consul to Perth and an
All Blacks supporter.
K
H
f
I
wo
Pe
wh
pr
so
wi
an
on
wi
kn
we
qu
ph
an
ab
in
for
hi
Ju
to
$4
me
WA
th
th
in
an
no
no
be
on
re
co
giv
ha
re
1
Mark
Creasy
tti
g
on
n
t
e
y
t
ve
n
Y,
T
n
e
s
th
nd
g
d
or
an
Kerry
Harmanis
f Kerry Harmanis were to ever
open a school combining
business and spirituality, it
would be a sure winner.
He built a reputation as one of
Perth’s toughest businessmen
while professing and living
practical spirituality.
He is unafraid of letting
someone know if he is not happy
with their actions or their work
and was not shy about letting
one person closely associated
with producing WA’s Rich List
know that he didn’t like his
wealth being profiled.
Though not directly
questioning our sums, the
philanthropist did not leave
anyone present in any doubt
about what he thought of his
inclusion in this product.
This is the same vigorousness
for which he was renowned at
his nickel mining company
Jubilee Mines before selling out
to Xstrata in 2007 for more than
$470 million.
The keen surfer, skier and
meditator told a University of
WA Business School function
that he shared with staff his 10
things they should not do. They
include no judgments about
anybody else, no complaining,
no resentments, no hearsay and
no interrupting. Issues should
be talked about and not be held
on to. “In other words, care and
respect for everyone,” he said.
“Leadership was not about
control. Leadership was about
giving people responsibility and
having them accept
responsibility.”
I
12
$585 million
PROPERTY,
SHARES
Cottesloe Mews,
Talisman Mining
O
ne of the most storied
figures in the WA
mining industry, the
amazing run of nickel
hopeful Sirius
Resources has added a
late-in-life jewel to Mark
Creasy’s crown as the king of
prospectors.
Hailed as one of the most
significant WA mineral finds of
the last five years, Sirius’
discovery of the Nova deposit
sent its shares soaring from
about 6¢ in July 2012 to touch
the $5 mark in March.
Mr Creasy holds a big stake in
Sirius, plus 30 per cent of the
deposit itself. Combined, the two
briefly pushed his paper worth
over the $1 billion level.
As is the way with companies
at this stage of development,
Sirius shares have since
softened, dropping Mr Creasy’s
net worth on paper accordingly.
The big question for the next
year will be how the veteran
prospector deals with his
holding.
His direct stake in Nova is
“free carried” until the final
decision to build a mine is made.
That will most likely occur in
the middle of next year and,
with current estimates showing
the project carries a $470 million
price tag, he will need to come
up with $140 million to maintain
his 30 per cent stake, or
restructure his ownership of
Sirius and Nova shares, or sell
out at the project level.
Although Sirius has the first
right of refusal over any offer
for Mr Creasy’s stake in Nova,
chatter about the various
13
Mark Creasy has gained national recognition as a prospector and still
enjoys assaying when he has spare time.
options and possibilities has
kept the West Perth cafe strip
abuzz, and set corporate
advisory firms circling.
Asked about his thoughts on
the subject by WestBusiness in
September, Mr Creasy said he
was keeping his options open,
pointing out his track record in
brokering deals spoke for itself.
Indeed it does. The prospector
made his first fortune two
decades ago by selling the
Bronzewing and Jundee mines
to Joe Gutnick’s Great Central
Mines. Together, his private
companies make him one of the
biggest holders of exploration
ground in the State.
That’s a situation that has
seen Mr Creasy attract criticism
from some quarters of the
industry as a “land banker” who
has locked up swathes of WA to
his own benefit but to the
detriment of the broader
exploration sector — a criticism
he has strongly rejected.
Though Sirius has attracted
the attention of the market and
the bulk of the headlines, it has
also been a busy year on other
$539 million
PROSPECTING,
PROPERTY
Yandal
Investments,
Sirius Resources,
Medusa Mining
fronts. Based on the success of
Nova, the Fraser Ranges have
become the latest “nearology”
play, with other explorers
rushing in to the region to
capitalise on both its
prospectivity and investor
sentiment.
In addition to dealing out
other tenements pegged in the
area to listed companies such as
Orion Gold and Windward
Resources, Mr Creasey’s private
companies have cut other deals
across the State. Antipa
Minerals picked up Creasy-held
ground in the Pilbara recently,
as did Coziron.
The veteran prospector even
made a foray offshore, courtesy
of the participation of Yandal
Investmests in a capital raising
launched by Talga Resources,
which is chasing graphite and
iron ore projects in Sweden.
John Simpson
t’s been a tough couple of years
in the home building game but
it has not stopped 83-year-old
John Simpson and his son David
investing heavily in the
development of their empire.
Forever playing the long game,
they are upgrading the Myaree
headquarters of their Summit
Homes Group to meet greater
demands by new home owners
for choice in finishes, fixtures
and fittings.
John Simpson started in the
I
land development business more
than 50 years ago.
He has probably seen more
highs and lows than any other
member of WA’s Rich List
through his heavy focus on
property.
Despite founding arguably
WA’s fifth-biggest building group
and having significant South
West land interests, the
businessman maintains a very
low public profile.
David, 43, has become the
front man for the family
business, promoting Summit’s
house designs and southern
corridor land developments.
He was also the public face of
Summit staff, who formed a
sizeable contingent in the
recent City to Surf fun.
“Over the past 30 years, we
have been passionate about
supporting the communities we
live in and build in, ” the
Summit managing director
said.
15
$470 million
HOME
BUILDING, LAND
AND PROPERTY
DEVELOPMENT
Summit Homes,
Rockingham Park
Group, Corry Lyn
Jack Bendat
traight-talking Jack Bendat admits
the stock market has been good to
him this year and he has some advice
for anyone who cares to take it.
The owner of the Wildcats basketball
team and the renowned philanthropist
advises investors to keep it simple.
“Keep it to the top 10 stocks and stay
away from speculative stocks,” he said.
“Some banks will pay you an 11 per
cent return, so would you go look some
place else?”
Mr Bendat, 88, arrived in Perth from
the US in 1966, and went on to build a
fortune developing shopping centres with
Kevin Merifield and Kerry Stokes.
He had a series of successful
partnerships with Mr Stokes in a range of
television and radio businesses.
In 1997 he pocketed $100 million after
selling radio stations PMFM and Mix 94.5
to Austereo, while the 2002 sale of Mt
Barker’s Goundrey and Fox River
wineries earned him $62.5 million.
He has previously owned stakes in
Burswood Casino, West Australian
Newspapers and Great Southern wine
producer Ferngrove.
But he believes his work to help youth,
which includes seven homeless shelters
and four university scholarships, will be
his legacy.
“When you have more money than you
can spend you can either put it in the
grave with you or give it away,” he said.
“Children are the future, because we’ve
all been here and done that.”
Mr Bendat gives away millions through
the Bendat Family Foundation, including
the Bendat Family Comprehensive
Cancer Centre at St John of God Hospital.
He is also passionate about the Wildcats
basketball team which he bought in 2006,
and which is set to turn a profit this year
for the first time under his watch.
It was his involvement with the
Wildcats that gave Perth another gift,
parking at Perth Arena, after he
threatened the team would boycott the
venue unless plans were changed to
include an underground carpark.
S
Kim Macdonald
11
$679 million
INVESTMENT,
BASKETBALL,
WINE
Perth Wildcats,
Ferngrove
Accelerating success.
On City’s Door Step
SALE/LEASE
CITY LINK PROJ
ECT
Outlines indicative only
100 James Street, Northbridge
5,095.5m² of quality building
Licensed for 38 basement carbays
• 1,666m² of total land area; increased plot
ratio - now 4:1
1,330m² floorplates
Good natural light
• Two leased retail tenancies
• NABERS exemption
•
•
•
•
For Sale or Lease
www.colliers.com.au/500665651
Ian Mickle
0403 659 800
08 9261 6628
Nicholas Agapitos
0434 659 808
08 9261 6647
www.colliers.com.au
David Cresp
0434 659 809
08 9261 6600
Chiu Chi
Wen
P
erth is full of connections that
make the city, the money and its
people go around.
They can be networks of trust
and reputation, such as those
that allow the likes of Nigel Satterley
and Primewest to put together big deals
based on little more than a phone call.
The other important network of trust
is sharing confidences and seeing each
other through the personal crises and
anxieties that can affect the wealthy just
as much as those with barely two
pennies to rub together.
While the poor might have to make do
with only a friend’s shoulder or the local
GP, the affluent of Perth can also look to
Chiu Chi Wen and an array of medical
and health experts such as those at The
Healing Tree operation in Mosman Park.
The Healing Tree offers conventional
medical services, including general
practitioners, psychiatrists, audiologist
and physiotherapists. Mr Wen is not
only the owner of this medical operation
but is a leading exponent of meditation
and energy healing.
WA’s Rich List became aware of Mr
Wen’s involvement in The Healing Tree
when one of WA’s richest people spoke of
a personal crisis and said “Chiu Chi Wen
saved my life”.
According to a biography published by
his Blue Body Spiritual Centre, the
University of WA commerce graduate
began his spiritual journey about 20
years ago after being introduced to
pranic healing in Malaysia. Mr Wen said
that before he started meditiation, he
could be affected by other people’s
thoughts about him.
“My life was defined by how I could
Making connections: Nigel Satterley, Mei Chi
Wen and Chiu Chi Wen.
keep people happy,” he said. “My
happiness was derived by making other
people happy. Meditation allows you to be
happy no matter what others feel or do.”
Such peace of mind probably comes in
handy considering Mr Wen sits atop a
private and public business empire
spread across Malaysia and Australia.
His best-known business in Australia is
arguably his property group Hawaiian,
whose assets include the luxurious Cable
Beach Club Resort and Spa in Broome,
the Parmelia Hilton Hotel and Carillon
City arcade in central Perth.
Hawaiian is owned through a network
of family trust companies set up by his
late father Wen Tien Kuang Tan Sri Wen
and his mother Chong Chook Yew.
The son has been managing director of
the family’s Malaysian-listed property
development company Selangor
Properties since 2000. Hawaiian and a
co
by
Vi
Ku
wh
aff
op
an
Au
20
1
R
f
p
a
I
go
re
tec
iiN
re
po
bu
un
tu
wo
un
Hi
th
m
sig
pr
FOR SALE
By Expressions of Interest
Closing 30 November 2013
hi
is
le
k
10
n
of
$884 million
PROPERTY
Selangor Properties,
Hawaiian
HEALTH SERVICES
The Healing Tree,
Blue Body Spiritual Centre
Selangor has property investments and
development properties in Malaysia, as
well as a 50 per cent stake with developer
Brookfield Multiplex in the prestigious
Claremont Quarter shopping centre.
The Claremont Quarter investment is
producing healthy returns under the
management of Perth-based Hawaiian,
led by longstanding Wen lieutenant
Russell Gibbs.
It is understood Mr Wen gives the
Hawaiian team a lot of latitude in the
management of the family’s Australian
assets.
The family’s Australian assets could
well surpass their Malaysian
investments, considering its holdings in
CBD properties such as London House,
Parmelia House and 235 St Georges
Terrace.
Its Perth suburban shopping centres
include Bassendean Shopping Village,
The Mezz in Mt Hawthorn and Noranda
Shopping Village.
Ralph Sarich
f it is true that no man ever went broke making a
profit, this canny businessman will never be broke
and will probably die a billionaire.
As the founder of Orbital Engine Corporation, who
got out before its shares headed south, Ralph Sarich
realised a 200 per cent-plus gain on a 2010 foray into WA
technology players Amcom Telecommunications and
iiNet. It is small beer in a $1 billion empire but a
reminder of this man’s ability to pick markets. He
pocketed more than $500 million on commercial office
building sales in 2006 amid his prescient fears about
unsustainable boom time prices. The veteran inventor
turned his formidable mind to renewable energy, being
worried that Australia’s economic growth was
unsustainable without proper investment in technology.
His son Peter manages the day-to-day business affairs of
the Cape Bouvard Investments family empire. Seeing
more red tape in residential development, the patriarch
signalled last year he was looking at more commercial
property investment.
I
9
$1.06 billion
SHARES,
VENTURE
CAPITAL,
PROPERTY
Cape Bouvard,
Alluvion
LAND
DEVELOPMENT
Settler’s Cove Noosa
APARTMENTS
Ce-Vue, One
Brighton
COMMERCIAL
Alluvion
500 Caves Road, Siesta Park
Absolute Beachfront Residence
Huge 3949m2 double lot
6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms
800m2 of luxurious living
Inspection by appointment –
Geoff Hanson 0418 926 290
info@hansonproperty.com.au
9755 8234
#13W2190873-24/10
be
”
n
controlling stake in Selangor are owned
by the Wen family through a British
Virgin Islands trust structure.
Selangor assets include a stake in the
Kuala Lumpur-based HELP University,
which has been set up to provide
affordable education.
The group’s Malaysian education
operations are a major source of revenue
and profit for the group, and it set up an
Australian division based in NSW in
2011.
Roberts
family
fter their relatively brief
period in the public
company scene last decade,
the children of the late John
Roberts are back to making
money mostly away from
constant scrutiny.
Andrew, Tim and Denby
Roberts played a major role in
diversifying Multiplex from
being a construction group to a
property investment and
management company.
The heirs sold their
controlling stake in Multiplex
before the global financial crisis,
then quietly invested in property,
private equity and hedge funds
as debt-addled investors reeled.
The Andrew Roberts-backed
CorVal Partners has built a
reputation as an astute property
investor.
On the negative side, his RF
Capital was part of a failed bid to
fix struggling gold miner Apex
Minerals.
Perth-based Tim owns
AVWest, a private charter
aircraft operator and owner of
the Perth Jet Centre business
passenger terminal.
A social A-lister and close
mate of James Packer, Tim is
also a director of the company
behind Crown Perth.
Kerry Stokes
ith his wealth now
reweighted to the
WesTrac heavy
equipment franchise, the mining
slowdown was always going to
visit Kerry Stokes at some time.
WestTrac has been an
impressive flagship business for
Mr Stokes’ listed Seven Group
Holdings, riding Australia’s
resources boom to emerge as
one of the world’s biggest
dealers of Caterpillar
equipment.
WesTrac racked up a record
profit this year but as mining
development slows, SGH is
warning of quieter times ahead
for the WA-based dealership.
W
A
Denby Roberts
7
Andrew Roberts
Tim Roberts and Ryan
Stokes, son of
billionaire Kerry Stokes.
$2.21 billion
INVESTMENT,
PROPERTY, AVIATION
CorVal, Signature Capital,
RF Capital,
AVWest, Goodoil
Investments,
Warburton Capital
6
$2.27 billion
MINING
EQUIPMENT,
MEDIA, PROPERTY
Seven Group
Holdings, Westrac,
Seven West Media,
Iron Ore Holdings
The weaker outlook is
reflected in SGH’s share price,
which has retreated from record
highs in March, when Mr
Stokes’ 68 per cent holding was
valued as high $2.4 billion.
M
me
ho
Me
Au
fre
an
Ide
Ho
H
ma
pro
Sy
M
to
pa
Te
sup
Me
Hancock
heirs
O
n paper, each of Gina
Rinehart’s four
children are
billionaires. But
nothing in the House
of Hancock is ever that simple.
The Hope Margaret Hancock
Trust, set up by their late
grandfather, holds shares
representing almost a quarter of
the family company, Hancock
Prospecting, worth about $5
billion.
With their mother as trustee,
it was due to vest when the
youngest, Ginia, turned 25, just
over two years ago. It didn’t,
pitting three of Mrs Rinehart’s
four children in a high-stakes
court battle against her and
setting in play what has become
one of Australia’s most famous
and bitter family feuds.
In the NSW Supreme Court
last week, a phalanx of lawyers
for the mining magnate, her two
youngest daughters and the
family company argued that Mrs
Rinehart had thanklessly built
up assets for her children,
setting up Hope Downs and
creating “rivers of gold” for her
offspring.
“But it hasn’t, your honour,”
said Sydney lawyer Christopher
Withers, arguing that John
Hancock and Bianca Rinehart
had barely seen a cent.
Documents filed in court
allege that Mrs Rinehart
withheld hundreds of thousands
of dollars in family trust
payments which were meant to
8
John Hancock in Hong Kong. Picture: Steve Pennells
Bianca Rinehart
wi
av
an
ex
wo
co
wh
Ho
flo
co
up
bil
re
Hope Rinehart in 2000.
go to them since the battle
began. The mining magnate
countered with the argument
that she was using the money as
security to repay her defence
costs against their “malicious”
litigation over her management
of the trust.
According to paperwork
submitted to the Australian Tax
Office, each of the pair was
supposed to have received
$398,206 in 2011-2012. But Mrs
Rinehart withheld it, saying she
was entitled to “issue a lien”.
Ginia Rinehart with Bruce Butcher, Gina Rinehart’s personal lawyer.
Ginia was spared. As the only
one of Mrs Rinehart’s children
to have sided with her since the
start of the legal battle, she was
paid more than $816,000 from the
trust in 2011-2012, more than
four times the amount her two
sisters received.
Her brother, John, received
nothing.
The financial pressure made a
casualty of their sister Hope,
who had launched the fight at
their side but pulled out of the
legal action, broke and unable to
pay her bills. Despite Mrs
Rinehart’s efforts to have the
case thrown out or moved
behind-closed doors, it has
lumbered steadily towards a
showdown that was set to air the
family’s dirty laundry and put
the country’s richest woman on
trial over claims of gross
misconduct and dishonesty.
But a last-minute backdown
by the mining magnate, when
she stepped down as trustee
days before the trial was due to
start, and a decision by John to
th
tak
be
an
sh
lia
sh
ca
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feu
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on
as
re
po
sto
Th
Ste
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he
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Mr Stokes remains a force in
media through SGH’s 35 per cent
holding in the listed Seven West
Media, owner of The West
Australian newspaper, the Seven
free-to-air television network
and magazines including New
Idea, marie claire and Better
Homes and Gardens.
His other interests include a
major art collection and
properties in Perth, Broome,
Sydney and the US.
Mr Stokes has used his wealth
to further his philanthropic
passions, continuing to drive
Telethon and being a strong
supporter of the Australian War
Memorial.
$1.12 billion (each)
IRON ORE
Hancock Prospecting
8
withdraw his nomination,
avoided the public bloodletting
and re-framed the trial into a less
exciting discussion over who
would replace her.
The children have gained
control of the trust, which was
what they wanted. But while the
Hope Downs dividends will start
flowing, setting each of them up
comfortably, they will face an
uphill battle transferring their
billionaire status from paper to
reality.
Their lawyers claimed that if
they sold their shares, it would
take between 30 and 40 years
because of the huge costs to them
and the company at $2 million a
share, with a capital gains tax
liability of $400,000 a share.
They are allowed to sell the
shares only to each other and
can’t use them as security.
Depending on how things play
out, the Rinehart clan’s public
feud leaves the mining magnate’s
reputation battered but her
relationship with her children —
once described by her son, John,
as “complex” — salvageable.
“Complex and deep
relationships do have the
potential to be salvaged after
storms pass,” Mr Hancock told
The West Australian.
Steve Pennells
Len Buckeridge
B
illionaire Len
Buckeridge used to
enjoy playing a game
just before annual rich
lists were published.
A reporter with a national
publication would brave Mr
Buckeridge’s infamous wrath
each year in a bid to get a few
comments about his enormous
wealth.
“I would tell the reporter I
knew their boss, I could have
them sacked and that they
would never work in print ever
again if they didn’t hang up
immediately,” he laughs.
“One year a young man said
to me ‘You can’t blackmail me
you silly old bastard.’
“I realised then that the game
was up but I did very well at
terrorising journalists for a
number of years.”
Though in this case Mr
Buckeridge’s bark was worse
than his bite, his many sparring
partners in politics, local
council, business and unions
know that being on the wrong
side of him can be costly and
painful.
His favoured weapon appears
to be the courts and he has been
known to throw millions of
dollars at cases that can drag on
for more than a decade.
His legendary temper was
once aimed at certain
construction unionists, though
it’s been a long time since he’s
personally gone head-to-head
with any of his old union foes.
In 1986 he lost his driver’s
licence for driving his Mercedes
Benz through a caravan annex
that formed part of a union
picket line at a BGC site in
Canning Vale.
5
There are rumours he may
spin off BGC’s contracting arm,
but he assures he is not and is,
in fact, creating a new factory to
boost the division.
The unnamed contracting
enterprise involves the
manufacture of hollow-core
slabs that can be used to make
everything from panels to floor
slabs and stairs.
“I bought out this machinery
from Europe that you can use to
build with the hollow core slabs
like a meccano set,” he said.
It is a rags-to-riches story for
the 77-year-old, who grew up in a
fibro shack in Rivervale after his
family migrated from England.
With the family finances tight,
he spent his childhood in
patched hand-me-down trousers.
Legend has it he did not get his
first pair of shoes until high
school.
He shone as a student at the
selective Perth Modern School,
where he showed an aptitude for
business — by brewing beer in
the school’s science labs.
He studied architecture at
Perth Tech and went on to set up
the Buckeridge Group of
Companies, which involve
manufacturing, home building
and contracting.
Stan Perron
$2.48 billion
AUTOMOTIVE,
PROPERTY
Prestige Motors, Centro
Galleria, Mirrabooka
Square, Belmont Forum,
Central Park
IRON ORE
Cut of Hancock
Prospecting’s and Wright
Prospecting’s Brockman
royalties
his humblest of
squillionaires this year
celebrated the 50th
anniversary of grabbing one of
the best opportunities in WA
business history.
We are not talking about
bankrolling Lang Hancock and
Peter Wright in their iron ore
quest, which he did, but his
decision in 1963 to become the
WA distributor for Japanese
automotive group Toyota.
As WA iron ore headed north
and came back as Toyota cars,
Mr Perron got a cut both ways.
The 90-year-old still has the
T
eye and drive for a deal, even
when recovering from major
surgery. A convalescing Mr
Perron spent $690 million buying
half shares in three major Centro
shopping malls last year,
including Morley’s Galleria,
after reading the struggling
property group was looking to
free up some capital.
The renowned philanthropist
said this year he enjoyed the
challenge in everything he had
done. “There has been a certain
amount of luck and a certain
amount of research,” he said.
“It all has been a lot of fun.”
True to his humble roots, he
claims his eight grandchildren
and one great-grandchild are the
stars in the family.
Kim Macdonald
4
$2.56 billion
BUILDING
MATERIALS,
CONSTRUCTION,
HOME BUILDING
BGC, Brikmakers,
Perceptions,
Commodore Homes
Investment
Opportunity
Future
Location
Growth
‘The Rich List Wish List’
1VOU.HYSHUK
‘Lake Retreat’ Gidgegannup
146 hectares (360 acres) Paradise on Earth!
Exclusive private (or syndicated) retreat, corporate executive use,
philanthropic interests or boutique resort
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Lake Retreat
P.O.A.
‘Mandalay’ Caversham
Luxury private estate in Swan Valley with Swan River frontage over 250m
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P.O.A.
Mandalay
‘Westerly Farm’ Gidgegannup
One of the State’s finest examples of country living within 45 minutes of the city
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P.O.A.
*VU[HJ[John Garland
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Andrew Forrest
A
ndrew Forrest amassed
his multibillion-dollar
fortune with
breathtaking speed.
He seems
determined to give it away just
as quickly.
Giving $65 million to fund
scholarships and postdoctoral
fellowships at WA’s five
universities and to build
accommodation for researchers
is the latest in a string of moves
in the philanthropy field.
The most strategic of these
was the creation of the
Minderoo group — a new
vehicle that merges Mr Forrest’s
business holdings with his
charitable arm, the Minderoo
Foundation.
“(Minderoo Station) has been
in our family since the 1960s, I
think it is a special place in . . .
the history of WA,” Mr Forrest
told The West Australian after he
unveiled the new entity at a
charity night at Government
House a fortnight ago.
He has become one of
Australia’s greatest charity
benefactors and seems destined
to go down in history as this
nation’s version of the
celebrated American
philanthropic families, the
Carnegies and the Rockefellers.
It cannot be forgotten that Mr
Forrest is capable of giving away
so much money because of his
one-third stake in Fortescue
Metals Group, the iron ore
IRON ORE
Fortescue Metals
Group
Ben Harvey and Natalie Brown
he descendents of Lang
Hancock’s late business
partner Peter Wright have
none of the high-profile
intra-family fights afflicting
their Hancock Prospecting
counterparts.
But they have had their hands
full fighting Hancock heiress
Gina Rinehart over tenements
they claim were earmarked for
Wright Prospecting when the
Hanwright prospecting
partnership was carved up by
the patriachs in 1980s.
The Wright clan last month
fought off a High Court
challenge to a ruling giving
them a half share in the rich
Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit.
They are also pursuing separate
royalties and ownership claims
T
charitable legacy that included
big landholdings in prime
urban expansion areas such as
Beaumaris, Burns Beach,
Iluka, Halls Head and Secret
Harbour. The McCusker
fortune also now includes
interests at Bullsbrook,
Chittering, Anketell and a
minority stake in the
development company behind
the massive Ellenbrook
project. “It seems to be quite
silly to amass a lot of assets for
yourself,” Mr McCusker said.
In a seminal year for
corporate philanthropy, WA’s
Rich List pays tribute to the
State’s Governor.
Neale Prior and Ben Harvey
2
$3.7 billion
when Mr Power negotiated
better terms from the company’s
bankers.
A plan to expand production
to 155mtpa was temporarily
shelved, hundreds of staff were
sacked, non-essential assets
were sold and a blueprint
devised to sell Fortescue’s prized
rail infrastructure in a further
bid to retire the $10 billion debt
mountain which had investors
twitchy.
By Christmas the iron ore
price had steadied at about $120
a tonne and the urgency to sell
the company’s furniture faded.
A failed High Court challenge to
Labor’s mining tax aside, 2013
has been good for both
Fortescue and Mr Forrest.
His belief in his own vision
saw him spend $24 million
increasing his stake in
Fortescue by 5.2 million shares
in September.
Mr Forrest is prosecuting his
philanthropic endeavours with
the same religious zeal and
setting the same seemingly
impossible goals that he put in
place when creating Fortescue
— ending world slavery and
creating 50,000 jobs for
indigenous Australians. His
largesse may well prove good for
business — on the day his $65
million university donation
became known Fortescue closed
up 30¢ and his worth jumped by
hundreds of millions of dollars.
Bennett & Wright
Philanthropy at fore
Lawyer and property developer
Malcolm McCusker would
probably be in the middle of
this list with a fortune in
excess of $200 million if it were
not for a crucial decision that
he made with his late father
and business partner, Sir
James McCusker. The
McCuskers, who had made
their fortune with the Town &
Country Building Society and
land development, put most of
their wealth into a trust
focused on health, medical
research and education. When
Sir James died in 1995, he was
recognised as a major
contributor to medical and
agricultural research but left a
company he founded a decade
ago.
That stake yields him a
fortune because of tough
decisions made by Fortescue’s
executive team over the past 12
months. In August he was in line
to receive a $102 million cheque
after Fortescue’s board
announced that a stronger-thanexpected iron ore price meant it
could afford to pay a higher
dividend.
Under chief executive Nev
Power, Fortescue has tightened
its operations. Mr Power had a
baptism of fire after taking over
day-to-day operations from Mr
Forrest. He was the man in
charge when the iron ore price
tanked to $US86 a tonne in the
second half of 2012.
Investors pounded Fortescue
after analysts started
questioning whether the
company could service its debt
while earnings were so low.
The hard slog of getting the
company on a steady financial
footing after confidence in the
iron ore market evaporated last
year began in the third quarter,
Malcolm McCusker
over Hancock’s Hope Downs
joint ventures with Rio.
Michael Wright died last year
and was replaced on the Wright
board by his daughter Leonie
Baldock.
His sister Angela Bennett also
stepped down as part of a board
rejuvenation.
3
$3.1 billion
IRON ORE
ROYALTIES
Wright Prospecting
PROPERTY,
INFRASTRUCTURE
AMB Capital
Gina
Rinehart
RICH LIST 2013
I
n a year that saw Gina
Rinehart’s fractious
relationship with her
children dragged out in open
court, the mining magnate’s
family company quietly got on
with the job of minting cash,
developing its flagship iron ore
project and hunting for its next
big opportunity.
Mrs Rinehart’s family dramas
overshadowed her business
ventures and captured headlines
across the globe. They include
sensational allegations she
misused her position as trustee
of her children’s trust and
whitewashed tax advice to
pressure them to sign over their
rights to shares in family
mining company Hancock
Prospecting, the source of the
family’s great wealth.
They are allegations Mrs
Rinehart denies, instead
pointing to her work in building
the value of Hancock for her
family’s future. That she has
achieved this is undeniable.
Hancock Prospecting is now a
behemoth. Its 2011-12 revenue —
the last year figures are
publically available — from its
share of profits generated by the
Rio Tinto-run Hope Downs joint
venture and from royalties from
other iron ore mines topped $2.3
billion. The company declared
an annual after-tax profit of
$3.27 billion after factoring in
$1 billion-plus gains related to
Minerals Resource Rent Tax
credits and to the sell-down of its
Queensland coal assets.
Although it may be affected by
softening iron ore prices, that
revenue is set to go up in future
Gina with her father Lang Hancock.
years as the Hope Downs 4
expansion comes on line.
Mrs Rinehart is inching closer
to the biggest prize: her own
integrated iron ore project at
Roy Hill. Although the estimated
$7 billion in debt funding needed
for its construction is yet to
arrive, with the assistance of
equity partners Marubeni,
POSCO and Taiwan’s China
Steel Corporation, Roy Hill has
made great strides towards its
$10 billion goal of building a
55-million-tonne-a-year mine,
rail and port operation.
Roy Hill locked in Samsung
C&T to a $US5.8 billion ($6.1
billion) fixed-price engineering
and procurement contract for
the project. The Korean
engineering giant has been busy
pushing out that work to local
firms.
Although there is still some
doubt about whether bankers
will back the debt raising
without a further sale of project
equity, that uncertainty has not
Gina and former husband Greg Hayward in 1973. Picture: Kerry Edwards
Gina Rinehart
Andrew Forrest
Bennett &
Wright families
4 Len Buckeridge
5 Stan Perron
6 Kerry Stokes
7 Roberts family
8 Hancock heirs
9 Ralph Sarich
10 Chiu Chu Wen
& family
11 Jack Bendat
12 Kerry Harmanis
13 Mark Creasy
14 Chris Ellison
15 John Simpson
16 Caratti family
17 Gordon Martin
18 Peter Bartlett
and Ron Sayers
19 Fred Rae &
family
20 Rod Jones
21 Cardaci family
22 Rhonda Wyllie
23 Nigel Satterley
24 Vern Wheatley
25 John Hughes
26 Kailis Family
27 Tony Lennon
28 Tony Poli
29 Danny Hill
30 Stan Quinlivan
31 Divirgilio family
32 Garry
Brown-Neaves
33 Fini family
34 Dale Alcock
35 Peter Meurs
36 Alan Tribe
37 Nick Tana
38 Peter Larsen
39 Geoff Prosser
40 Mauro Balzarini
41 Peter Prendiville
42 Marylyn New
43 Harry Hoffman
44 Nick Giorgetta
45 Steve Wyatt
46 Julian Walter
47 Graham Hardie
48 Ian Trahar
49 John Rubino
50 Frank Tomasi
1
2
3
been reflected on the ground,
with the project appearing to be
running at full steam and early
site works started.
At the same time, Mrs
Rinehart signalled she is again
positioning herself to take
advantage of the early stages of a
different resources boom.
In January, Mrs Rinehart,
through private investment
vehicle Timeview Enterprises,
took part in a convertible note
offering by Victoria-focused
Lakes Oil, which has onshore
gas and oil projects in the
Gippsland and Otway basins.
At the same time, Hancock
Prospecting revealed it had
directly taken positions in the
emerging onshore shale and
unconventional gas sector by
marking out acreage in its own
name.
While few details are
available, the move appears
similar to Hancock’s earlier
foray into Queensland coal,
which ultimately yielded the
company a massive win when
assets were sold.
While Hancock stacks its cash
and Roy Hill marches on, her
future project pipeline in iron
ore took a major dent when she
finally lost control of her 25 per
1
$14.1 billion
IRON ORE,
COAL,
ROYALTIES
Hancock
Prospecting
cent stake in the giant Rhodes
Ridge iron ore project after a
decade of legal battles with the
family of Lang Hancock’s
former prospecting partner
Peter Wright.
The Wright family also threw
up new legal challenges against
Mrs Rinehart, pushing on with a
claim royalties are owed from
production at Hope Downs and
launching a new action arguing
the family should have been
given a stake in the Hope Downs
4 expansion project.
Those matters are still before
the courts .
They, along with the fallout
from the battle between Mrs
Rinehart and her two eldest
children, John Hancock and
Bianca Rinehart, point to
another tumultuous year ahead
for the country’s richest person.
Nick Evans
$14.1b
$3.7b
$3.1b
$2.56b
$2.48b
$2.27b
$2.21b
$1.12b
$1.06b
$884m
$679m
$585m
$539m
$473m
$470m
$457m
$450m
$405m
$392m
$390m
$385m
$376m
$360m
$355m
$322m
$314m
$311m
$298m
$295m
$290m
$262m
$260m
$255m
$243m
$235m
$229m
$225m
$217m
$212m
$205m
$193m
$186m
$182m
$179m
$176m
$163m
$160m
$150m
$149m
$147m
COTTESLOE & DALKEITH
Your Industry
Leader in the
Western Suburbs
‘EXPERIENCE THE BEST’
ACTON COTTESLOE: (08) 9384 6999
ACTON DALKEITH: (08) 9386 8255
TIME
IS ON MY SIDE.
Experience is a value that grows with time: something
t h a t Mo n t b l a n c h a s i n c o m m o n w i t h Ni c o l a s C a g e .
This chronograph features a second time zone synchronised
with Universal Time Cooordinated (UTC). Crafted in
the Montblanc Manufacture in Le Locle, Switz erland.
visit montblanc.com
SYDNEY 75 CASTLEREAGH STREET - 115 KING STREET | MELBOURNE 175 COLLINS STREET
B R I S B A N E 1 7 1 E D WA R D S T R E E T | P E R T H 1 2 5 S T G E O R G E S T E R R A C E | 1 3 0 0 3 6 4 8 1 0

RICH LIST - The West Australian

Transcription

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