Graeme Hart

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Graeme Hart, (1955- ) is a New Zealander and a billionaire businessman who is reported to be the richest man in New Zealand with a personal fortune of more than NZ$3bn. He has been voted in a magazine survey as one of the ten most powerful people in New Zealand. He prefers to stay out of the general media and makes few public appearances.

Hart has a preference for buying underperforming companies which can be turned around through strong management, cost-cutting and integration with other businesses.

1 Current Interests
2 Past Interests
3 Early Years
4 Personal
- 4.1 External links

[edit] Current Interests

[edit] Rank Group

Graeme Hart's private investment company. 100% owner of Burns Philp and Carter Holt Harvey. Rank had assets of approximately NZ$3bn in cash after selling the assets of Burns Philp and floating Goodman Fielder in 2004. Bankers estimated that Rank could use that equity as leverage to raise as much as NZ$12bn for acquisitions.

As at March 2007, Rank is negotiating the purchase of Swiss packaging company SIG for an estimated NZ$3.3bn. The deal has the backing of the SIG board and would give Hart control of the second largest food and drink packaging company in the world after Swedish giant TetraPak.

Hart's 'company vehicle' is a Bombardier BD 700 Global Express corporate jet owned by Rank Group and operated by Cayman Islands-registered Felham Enterprises.

[edit] Burns Philp

Burns Philp and Company Limited was an Australian and New Zealand food manufacturing company listed on the ASX. Hart has been the chairman since September 2004 and a member of the Board of Directors since September 1997. In 2003 Burns Philp performed a A$2.4bn hostile takeover of the much larger food group Goodman Fielder before relisting it through and IPO. Following the sale of its yeast and spices business to UK firm Associated British Foods, Uncle Toby's to Nestle and Bluebird Foods to PepsiCo the company became largely a cashed up shell.

In December 2006, Hart completed a A$1.6bn takeover of the 42 per cent of Burns Philp he didn't already own. After the successful takeover Burns Philp was delisted from the ASX. The deal gave him total control of A$2.9bn of Burns Philp cash, net of debt, which he could then use to further build on his Carter Holt Harvey empire.

[edit] Carter Holt Harvey

In 2006 Hart paid NZ$3.3bn for Carter Holt Harvey, the New Zealand timber and paper business.

Soon after completing the purchase he began restructuring the struggling company starting with the sale of CHH's forests to US-based Hancock Timber Group for a reported NZ$1.5bn.

Hart's initial focus appears to be on the packaging side of CHH. In December 2006 he agreed to purchase International Paper's drinks packaging business Evergreen Packaging for NZ$500m. In early 2007 he is negotiating the purchase of Swiss packaging company SIG through Rank Group and has signed a letter of agreement with US paper packaging company Blue Ridge Paper Products of North Carolina.

Hart currently has NZ$3.7bn in equity in CHH after it's first annual report under his control. cscs

[edit] Past Interests

Chairman of Whitcoulls Group Limited, a New Zealand publicly listed stationery and book retailer operating in Australasia.

[edit] Early Years

Hart's extremely successful business career has humble origins - in his younger days, he worked as a tow-truck driver and as a panel beater after leaving school at 16.

In 1987, Graeme completed an MBA from Otago University. His research thesis outlines the strategy for Rank then a small hire company to evolve into a major corporation.

Hart gained a big break when he bought Government Print Agency for less than its capital value. Future investment included Whitcoulls Group - which at that stage also included a retail chain of bookstores as well as office and stationary concerns.

[edit] Personal

Graeme Hart lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with his wife and two children.

Something that may confuse Mr Hart's critics is his lack of interest in making money for its own sake. That's not what gets him out of bed in the morning. He describes his personal wealth - estimated at much more than $3 billion - as "a by-product" of what he does.

While he prefers to keep a low profile in the general media he was notable for the launch his 58m luxury yacht Ulysses at Auckland's Viaduct in January 2006. The yacht is valued at nearly $100m and has been five years in the making after problems with a refit by a New Orleans shipyard where the yacht caught fire.

In January 2007 Hart is reported as having rescued three people and a dog from their burning boat off Waiheke Island north of Auckland.