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Wealth

Rich List

Rich List 2023

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Rich Lister Sam Kennard took over the self-storage business when he was just 24.

How Sam Kennard built a $2.6b empire

The influential business figure always had ambition to work and grow the family company. But he didn’t expect his dad to give him total control when he was just 24 years of age.

  • Julie-anne Sprague
Billionaire Sam Arnaout has a stake in casinos, property developments and a number of hotels.

Sam Arnaout arrives at Hudson House, headquarters of the very rich

The billionaire publican has snapped up the offices once occupied by late television king Reg Grundy, signalling a changing of the guard among Sydney’s rich.

  • Primrose Riordan and Campbell Kwan
Sigma Healthcare CEO Vikesh Ramsunder, and Chemist Warehouse co-founder, Mario Verrocchi (R) both will remain in the combined business valued at $8.8 billion.

Sigma could shed customers after Chemist Warehouse merger

The deal, creating an $8.8 billion retail and wholesaling giant, could even be blocked by competition regulators, according to analysts at Morningstar.

  • Carrie LaFrenz and Tom Richardson
Jack Gance and Mario Verrocchi have climbed the Financial Review Rich List after sticking a deal to list their company on the ASX.

Chemist Warehouse duo to climb Rich List after Sigma deal

Documents associated with the merger, which will create a retail giant, show for the first time the precise shareholdings of Jack Gance and Mario Verrocchi.

  • Michael Bailey
Laurence Escalante is the founder of Virtual Gaming Worlds.

Rich lister’s online casino empire feels heat of US lawsuits

The wildly profitable business operated by the Perth billionaire is facing legal challenges in US two states, and a crackdown on digital gambling in a third.

  • Primrose Riordan
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Chemist Warehouse plans to merge with Sigma but The Pharmacy Guild has warned against the deal.

Influential pharmacy lobby comes out against Chemist Warehouse deal

The Pharmacy Guild says the proposed reverse listing of the company into Sigma, creating an $8 billion giant, posed “significant questions and risks”.

  • Carrie LaFrenz

Ahmed Fahour to lead Rich Lister Tim Gurner’s $15b property empire

The former Latitude Financial and NAB chief executive’s latest gig is to drive the expansion of the luxury apartments and wellness platform, Gurner Group.

  • Nick Lenaghan

Justin Hemmes’ $3b property empire outgrows nightlife roots

The billionaire has spent at least $900 million building a sprawling hospitality and residential empire. But there’s one business he is happy to leave in the shadows.

  • Updated
  • Primrose Riordan

How Cathie Reid went from typing class to a $550m fortune

The Rich Lister originally wanted to be a typist. Instead, she became a pharmacist before she spotted a gap in the market and become an entrepreneur alongside husband Stuart Giles.

  • Julie-anne Sprague
Rode founder and Rich Lister Peter Freedman has bought Mackie, whose live mixing boards represent a return to Freedman’s roots doing sound for Sydney clubs.

Rich Lister returns to his rock’n’roll roots with $180m US deal

The microphone mogul behind Rode has ambitions to be the world’s biggest provider of pro audio gear, most of it made in Australia.

  • Michael Bailey

November

Robert Magid at home in Point Piper.

‘Idiotic thing to do’: Sponsor says STC has ‘learnt its lesson’

Robert Magid, whose Pier One Hotel sponsors the besieged theatre company, said his support hinged on no evidence of management collusion in Saturday’s pro-Palestinian protest emerging.

  • Michael Bailey

Chinese billionaire exits WA cattle station empire in $300m deal

A Canadian investment giant has teamed up with local platform New Agriculture on a mega cattle station deal in the Kimberley region. It comes amid signs the worst is over for the meat market.

  • Nick Lenaghan and Larry Schlesinger
Sandy Oatley on Hamilton Island.

Oatley family dumps plan for $1b Hamilton Island sale

The family had tasked UBS with a review of the prized tourism asset but decided against offloading it.

  • Updated
  • Primrose Riordan
Global Creatures chief executive Carmen Pavlovic

Desperate for staff, Moulin Rouge lures talent with a free show

The musical is struggling to replace any technical crew that leave, so it is putting out the call in the hope of luring fresh talent.

  • Michael Bailey
Melbourne Victory has done a sponsorship deal with Ed Craven’s Kick live-streaming platform.

Melbourne football club probed over deal with crypto casino mogul

Melbourne Victory has been accused of backtracking on a commitment not to accept gambling sponsorship after signing up Ed Craven’s live-streaming site, Kick.

  • Primrose Riordan and Zoe Samios
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Carol Schwartz, AO, with her father, Marcus Besen, AC.

Sussan co-founder, philanthropist Marc Besen dies at 99

Tributes are flowing for the Holocaust survivor who arrived in Australia in 1947, built a fortune in the retail trade and then shared his success through philanthropy.

  • Updated
  • Nick Lenaghan and Michael Bailey
Rich Lister Raphael Geminder and wife Fiona Geminder at the Melbourne Cup.

Slow going for Rich Lister Geminder in Pact buyout

Raphael Geminder was at the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, with his buyout bid for the rest of Pact making little headway.

  • Simon Evans
John Kahlbetzer snr playing at family Polo grounds at Jemalong in 1993.

John Kahlbetzer, from oil rigs to the Rich List, dies

German-born Kahlbetzer worked in the fossil fuel industry after arriving in Australia in his early 20s before his entrepreneurial flair built a vast fortune.

  • Updated
  • Brad Thompson

How Mark Carnegie thumb-sucked his way off the Rich List

The entrepreneur and corporate adviser has had plenty of woulda, shoulda, coulda moments. One of them cost him about $100 million.

  • Julie-anne Sprague
Crestone CEO Mike Chisholm.

LGT Crestone tries to nab nation’s richest families from UBS

LGT Crestone is on the hunt for someone to cover family office clients, and plans to offer mansion mortgages to snare a larger share of Australia’s wealthy.

  • Updated
  • Primrose Riordan and Aaron Weinman

Two Rich Listers make billions from Qld coal

Wealthy businessmen Sam Chong and Chris Wallin are the beneficiaries of big paydays from highly profitable Bowen Basin operations, despite softening prices.

  • Updated
  • Primrose Riordan and Joshua Peach
Cotton On CFO Michael Hardwick (left) and CEO Peter Johnson at the Geelong head office.

Cotton On posts record sales after overseas push

The group behind popular retail names like Typo and Supre posted a record $2.2 billion in sales and opened more than 100 stores overseas last year.

  • Carrie LaFrenz

October

Rich lister Lang Walker’s developer profits up 30pc

The billionaire real estate mogul is the sole shareholder of Walker Group and is working on major projects in Parramatta, Sydney and Melbourne.

  • Nick Lenaghan
Jake Paco at his warehouse in Alexandria, Sydney.

His teachers said he’d end up in jail. Now he’s on the Young Rich List

Geedup founder Jake Paco has conquered his demons and is taking his cult streetwear brand from western Sydney to New York.

  • Carrie LaFrenz

The green energy multimillionaires taking over the Young Rich List

US-based investor and Young Rich List debutant Gregory Green made an estimated $100 million after selling his share of a landfill gas developer.

  • Michael Bailey
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The 350 largest family offices in Australia are estimated to manage between $515 billion and $695 billion of wealth outside their operating businesses.

You’re rich, but are you family office rich?

Financial advisers are anticipating the transfer of an estimated $3.5 trillion between generations by 2030 to spur more interest in family offices.

  • Primrose Riordan
At 27, Ed Craven became Australia’s youngest ever self-made billionaire in 2022.

Rich Lister accused of encouraging ‘incredibly inappropriate’ behaviour

Online casino entrepreneur Ed Craven has been accused of encouraging inappropriate behaviour towards a female escort on his live-streaming platform.

  • Primrose Riordan and Tess Bennett
Peter Hearl, the chairman of Endeavour Group.

Endeavour accuses pubs billionaire of using ‘selective’ information

Peter Hearl, chairman of the Dan Murphy’s and hotels owner Endeavour, wrote to shareholders hitting back at 15 per cent shareholder Bruce Mathieson’s criticism.

  • Updated
  • Simon Evans, Carrie LaFrenz and Zoe Samios
Jason Willoughby, Squadron Energy’s CEO said coal fired power station needed to be urgently phased out.

Squadron Energy to spend $20b on renewables by 2030

Squadron expands to become Australia’s biggest renewables’ player after its $4.2 billion purchase of CWP Renewables late last year.

  • Primrose Riordan

This Rich Lister added $1b to his wealth in less than two years

Medical technology firm Pro Medicus has delivered blistering returns this year. Its success has propelled co-founder Sam Hupert into the $2 billion club.

  • Julie-anne Sprague