NBR reveals wealthy Kiwis

The NBR has released its annual list of New Zealand’s leading wealth creators, which includes a number of people who have connections past and present to the automotive industry.

It is the third year the publication has named the top 100 Kiwi individuals and families who are “building the country’s future”.

The NBR List started in 2021 as a replacement for the annual rich list after the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a rethink of how to celebrate wealth in New Zealand.

Ones to watch in the future are also identified by the NBR and this year it includes the Howard family, whose patriarch Tony Howard, pictured, founded the Howard Group of Toyota dealerships.

Below are summaries of those on the 2023 list with links to the automotive industry.

Todd family – $4.3 billion (2022: $4.3b)

The family have maintained their number-two spot on the NBR List for the past three years.

The origins of the Todd Corporation go back to the family’s first commercial venture in 1884 – a fellmongery and wool scour in Otago.

Over the generations it has been involved with the automotive sector and Todd Motor Industries was a major player assembling and selling cars before being sold to Mitsubishi in 1987.

However, the family’s biggest impact has been in the energy sector. Todd Energy holds interests in producing fields that account for about 60 per cent of New Zealand’s annual hydrocarbon production, as well as being one of the country’s leading energy producers through Todd Generation.

Todd Corporation’s extensive shareholder list potentially represents hundreds of family beneficiaries.

Farmer family – $900 million (2022: $900m)

Trevor Farmer is the patriarch of the family and much of the veteran investor’s holding companies control large amounts of urban and rural property.  

The family’s two main investment vehicles are Tappenden Holdings and Ironwood Trustee Ltd.

The Tappenden name is associated with Farmer’s long-term business partner Alan Gibbs, whose fortune was founded on his acquisition of car dealership Tappenden Motors with partners Charles Bidwill, John Fernyhough, and Warren Paine.  

Farmer and Gibbs also bought out then-listed Freightways through Tappenden Holdings in 1985, before selling it on in 1997.  

Alan Gibbs – $800 million (2022: $760m)

Entrepreneur and investor Alan Gibbs is now 83 and his daughters Amanda and Emma, and their husbands, are now largely in control of his portfolio of assets.

He dedicated more than two decades to the development of high-speed amphibious vehicles but the family’s main focus is the 720-hectare Gibbs Farm bordering the Kaipara Harbour. 

His free-market views were forged in the 1960s by a four-year struggle to build a New Zealand car-manufacturing business with his brother Ian.  

Bureaucratic roadblocks foiled those efforts and he moved into investment banking. 

Deals that helped fuel his fortune, include the acquisition of car dealership Tappenden Motors, the management buyout of Freightways with business partner Trevor Farmer, and the privatisation of Telecom in the 1990s, again with Farmer.  

James Kirkpatrick – $800 million (2022: $750m)

It is understood James Kirkpatrick operated a car yard called Midland Motors in Auckland before turning his attention to property in the late 1950s.

He went on to form the Kirkpatrick Group, which has a portfolio of mostly South Auckland properties and the ownership of the $1 billion empire has been divided among his five children.

Sam Morgan – $670 million (2022: $650m)

Sam Morgan, who founded Trade Me in 1999, has turned into a social and corporate investor after making an instant fortune by selling the company to Fairfax in 2006 for more than $700m.

He initially went on to invest in software company Xero and through Jasmine Investment Holdings has interests in other companies across a diverse range of industries. 

Morgan has put at least $50m into supporting social entrepreneurs or small projects aimed at alleviating poverty. 

Sir Colin Giltrap – $475 million (2022: $450m)

Sir Colin Giltrap, along with his sons Richard and Michael, hold one-third each of the Giltrap Group he founded. 

The company imports and sells 18 of the world’s top automotive brands at 18 dealerships across the country.

Giltrap co-founded his first car dealership, Hamilton-based Monaco Motors, in 1966 before expanding his interests over the next few decades.  

At one point, his motor-vehicle empire spanned three countries and he held a stake in one of the UK’s leading luxury motor dealers – HR Owen. 

He is also a keen supporter of motor racing and has helped the careers of many Kiwis, including grandson Marco Giltrap, who currently drives for Team Porsche New Zealand in the 2023 Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Australia.

Drinkrow family – $300 million (2022: $320m)

The Kaipara Ltd business co-founded by motor-racing enthusiast Allan Drinkrow covers civil engineering, quarries, and property development. It has been led by managing director Steve Riddell since 2018.  

Drinkrow has a collection of vintage race cars, which includes a 1959 Cooper Climax T51 driven by motoring legends Sir Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren, displayed in The Pine Harbour Motorsport Museum.

Ones to watch

Howard family – $100 million

Tony Howard, founder of the Howard Group of Toyota dealerships, studied accountancy and worked in a homewares store before shifting into the automotive space with the purchase of Rio Motors in Greenlane, Auckland. 

The company operates five Toyota businesses in Newmarket, Manukau, Botany and Pukekohe, along with a service centre in Botany.

Daughter Alison Guise now runs the group, which has other associated commercial properties in its portfolio, with one of her brothers, Matthew.

Levi Fawcett – $68 million

Levi Fawcett is the co-founder and chief executive of Christchurch-based Partly, an automotive parts software company.
The enterprise was founded in 2020 and its founders have ambitions for it to become the largest New Zealand-based tech company.

To check out the full NBR List, click here.