The Australian Financial Review looks at how the wealthy are making money for our column, How the rich invest.
Such is BRW Rich Lister Kevin Seymour's enthusiasm for the sharemarket that the property developer once even formed his own funds management company.
In 2007, Seymour established Seymour Funds Management in Brisbane aimed at wealthy investors. While the global financial crisis of the following year saw Seymour scale back his plans he and his family still have several stock investments.
A long-time director and shareholder of Tatts Group, Seymour is actively involved in that company's merger discussions with Tabcorp that emerged this week and were confirmed on Wednesday morning.
Seymour will leave the board when the deal is completed next year. He and other Tatts shareholders will receive 0.8 of a Tabcorp share and 42.5¢ in cash for each Tatts share held.
Tatts also represents one of Seymour's better investments. He bought into TAB Queensland's initial $2 float in 1999. It was later to change its name to UNiTAB and Seymour often considered selling out. But the company's shares kept rising and it eventually merged with the then Tattersall's in late 2006 to form Tatts.
Well parked
Seymour now holds about $50 million worth of Tatts stock. The company's shares are down about 10 per cent since the announcement of Tatts' 2016 financial year profits in August and are down 17 per cent since January 1.
He is also a director of listed investment company Ariadne Australia, which holds assets across sectors such as property and car parking, the industry Seymour first made his fortune in back in the 1970s.
Ariadne shares have mostly tracked sideways during 2016, but are up about 8 per cent in the past 12 months.
Another stock where the Seymour name is found among the top 20 shareholders is Sigma Pharmaceuticals. The drugs supplier and pharmacy services provider is expecting full-year earnings growth of 10 per cent after lifting its half-year net profit by 25.2 per cent to $23.7 million.
Sigma has proven to be Seymour's best investment of late, with the company's shares up 84 per cent in the past 12 months and 68 per cent since January 1.
A veteran of the Queensland property scene, Seymour is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his investment company Seymour Group. He followed his father into the car park property business, and still owns several such assets as well as commercial and residential property holdings and developments.
His Seymour Energy is also undertaking petroleum exploration in Central Western Queensland.
