Graeme Hart Net Worth & Biography

New Zealand businessman Graeme Hart, 67, is among the most private billionaires in the world. He is the richest man now in New Zealand, and his businesses have been performing well in the last decade. His rise in fortune is due to the valuation of his companies and he makes his pay when he acquires businesses when they are in bad shape, rebuilds them, and sells them for a profit. Based on his track record over the past three decades, Hart typically re-invests in another business. He has almost all his fortune tied up in a packaging business called Reynolds Group, based across Australasia, Europe, and the US. Mr. Hart is one of the most private individuals you will ever hear about. Despite the magnitude of his fortune, this goal-oriented entrepreneur likes to maintain a very low profile and strictly focuses on his businesses. He prefers to stay out of the media and only makes few public appearances, especially when necessary. More details follow below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

He was born Graeme Richard Hart in New Zealand in the year 1955.

After leaving school at the age of 16, Hart worked as a panel beater and as a tow-truck driver.

He studied at Mount Roskill Grammar School and later attended the University of Otago from which he graduated in 1987 with his MBA. His research thesis outlines the strategy for Rank, a small hire company as at then, to grow. This strategy relies on employing the cash flow of well-performing firms to fund debt, which as it gets settled, increases the equity value of initial investors.

Professional Life: Entrepreneurial Career

Graeme Hart’s big break happened when he acquired the Government Printing Office in 1990 for less than its capital value. The purchase was 1.4x earnings and the business was provided generous payment terms. The Prime Minister of New Zealand by then, David Lange, initially refused to sign off on the deal.

In 1991, Hart bought Whitcoulls Group which included a chain of bookstores as well as stationery and office concerns at that time. He later sold off these interests for profits.

His model of business has barely changed since then. He makes his money by buying off businesses that are in bad shape, rebuilding them, and selling them for a profit. His record over the decade shows that he typically re-invests in another business, and his concerns are based across Australasia, Europe, and the US.

Personal Life: Wife, Private Interests, Residence

Mr. Graeme Hart is a happily married man as well as a father figure. He has residences in Queenstown, Auckland, and Waiheke Island in New Zealand. He also has properties on an island in Fiji as well as properties in Aspen, Colorado in the United States.

While he prefers to maintain a low profile in the general media, this businessman was notable for the launch of his luxury motor yacht Ulysses at Viaduct Harbor in Auckland back in January 2006. The yacht is said to be worth about $100 million. In 2012 he put it up for sale for $49-million. He has another yacht under assemblage which is constructed to sail under extreme conditions, equipped with a helicopter deck and accommodation for 60 persons. His latest “expedition yacht” was completed and launched on 3 September 2014, in Oslo, Norway, at the Kleven Verft shipyard. In 2017, Hart made the news for purchasing a new explorer yacht now that his former yacht has been sold.

Philanthropy

Another side of the New Zealand billionaire is his philanthropic side. Through his family’s foundation, Mr. Hart donated $10 million to the University of Otago in December 2018 to go towards the establishment of their $28.2 million dental teaching facility in South Auckland.

Graeme Hart Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Assets

The wealthiest man in New Zealand, Graeme Hart, is currently entitled to a net worth of 7.2 billion dollars. He is a reputed businessman who has built his wealth over the decades as a leveraged buyout private equity investor who specializes in buying undervalued companies and under-performing with steady cash flows that he later turns around through strong management, cost-minimizing, and restructuring with other businesses. It has been reported that he never shares the returns of the company with anyone, and the members of his team don’t get any share in the equity of the businesses. He is a man that wants all the risk and substantial rewards of a leveraged buyout investment solely to himself. He has almost all his fortune tied up in a packaging business called Reynolds Group, based across Australasia, Europe, and the US.