FB Roundup Mowbray family, Ken Fisher, Hinduja family
Mowbray family tops New Zealand rich list
Last week, the Mowbray family was named New Zealand’s richest family which knocked property and investment magnate Graeme Hart off a spot he has held for just over 20 years.
The National Business Review's 2024 Rich List estimated that founders of Auckland-based Zuru are now worth NZ$20 billion ($12.3bn) while Hart is valued at an estimated NZ$12.1 billion.
Owned by brothers Mat and Nick Mowbray, Zuru was founded in 2003 and is made up of three divisions – toys, consumer goods and construction. It has more than 5,000 staff across 30 locations worldwide.
Their sister Anna Mowbray exited the business in 2023.
In an interview published at NBR, 39-year-old Nick Mowbray said Zuru was on track to hit NZ$3 billion in revenue this year, with a plan to grow to NZ$10 billion of annual turnover within the next five years.
“Zuru describes itself as a robotics and automation company with a relentless focus on continuous improvement, which sees it automate at least one new process a week, resulting in some of the most efficient factories in the world," says NBR List editor Hamish McNicol. "This has resulted in the group being highly profitable and debt-free, and Zuru must now surely be considered one of New Zealand's most remarkable business successes.”
Zuru is now working on a project to automate property construction. A year ago it purchased a 25-acre factory in China which would be its first full-production factory for houses. The first are set to be shipped out to four pieces of land in Los Angeles that Zuru has bought, with completion aimed for the end of this year or early next year.
Ken Fisher sees personal worth double to $12.2 billion
The founder and owner of Texas-based independent money management firm Fisher Investments (FI) will see his net worth more than double to $12.2 billion after the sale of a minority stake in his investment firm.
Advent International and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) have taken a minority investment in the firm of up to $3 billion. The deal values Fisher Investments. at $12.75 billion.
Ken Fisher himself will remain active in his current role as FI's Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer, and FI management will continue to be led by chief executive Damian Ornani.
"This transaction is aimed dually at estate tax and planning purposes while assuring that FI will maintain its traditional culture, growth evolution and devotion to exceptional client service. FI has been my life. While my health is excellent, this transaction with an atypically long holding period for a private equity transaction will ensure FI's long-term private independence and culture should anything untoward happen to me,” says Fisher.
FI was founded in 1979 with $250. It now manages over $275 billion for over 150,000 clients globally, including 120,000 US private clients and 185 of the world's largest and most well-known institutional clients.
Fisher is the author of 11 books, six of which are national best sellers. A regular columnist for newspapers, he wrote an investing column in Forbes magazine for more than 32 years, writing his final one in 2016.
Members of Hinduja family sentenced to jail
A Swiss court last week sentenced four members of the Hinduja family to up to four-and-a-half years in prison. They were found guilty of exploiting household staff at their home on Lake Geneva.
It was alleged that the family paid workers $8 for an 18-hour shift – less than one-tenth required under Swiss law – and that they had confiscated worker passports and had prevented them from leaving the Swiss property.
The Guardian reports that the Hindujas had reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with the three employees who had made the accusations against them, but the prosecution decided to pursue the case owing to the gravity of the charges.
Prakash Hinduja and his wife Kamal each received sentences of four and a half years while their son Ajay and his wife, Namrata, received four-year terms each.
They were all cleared of human trafficking.
The family intends to appeal.
The Hinduja fortune was founded by Parmanand Deepchand Hinduja, who traded goods in what is now Pakistan. The Hinduja brothers moved their base to London in 1979.
The Hinduja Group is a multinational conglomerate with interests that range from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television.
The current head of the family is Gopichand Hinduja who took over as chairman after his older brother Srichand Hinduja died in May 2023.
Forbes estimates that the Hinduja family has a net worth of $20 billion.
