[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) — Graeme Hart was once a high school dropout working as an auto-body repairman and truck driver.<\/p>\n
Today he\u2019s New Zealand\u2019s richest person, thanks to a career in private equity, with a taste for super-yachts, submarines and superhero-themed pinball machines.<\/p>\n
Last week, his fortune got a boost after the stock-market debut of Reynolds Consumer Products Inc., the maker of Hefty trash bags and aluminum foil. The shares climbed 9.8% to close at $28.55 Friday, valuing his stake in the company at $4.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The advance continued Monday, with the stock rising an additional 3.7%.<\/p>\n
Hart, 64, controls a majority stake in Reynolds through Rank Group, his Auckland-based private equity firm, and the consumer-goods business is his biggest asset. A spokeswoman for Rank declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Read more: Reynolds Wrap maker jumps after raising $1.2 billion in IPO<\/p>\n
While Hart is among the world\u2019s most private billionaires, he\u2019s not shy about spending lavishly and is a serial buyer of super-yachts, including the 116-meter (381-feet) Ulysses. Valued at about $200 million, the vessel is spacious enough for a helipad and another smaller yacht on its front deck. One of his previous yachts, also named Ulysses, featured a Batman pinball machine, and a decommissioned U.S. Navy submarine lashed to the fore deck that provided an underwater getaway for as many as six people.<\/p>\n
Hart dropped out of school in his mid-teens and worked as an auto-body repairman and truck driver. He later obtained an MBA from New Zealand\u2019s University of Otago, where he formed the basis of his leveraged-buyout strategy for scores of deals he made over the past three decades. In a 2018 speech at his alma mater, Hart spelled out that strategy to graduating students.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe bold,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means buy as big as you can, borrow as much as you can and then work the asset as hard as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reynolds was formed by Rank Group in 2010, primarily through a combination of the Reynolds and Hefty businesses with Presto brands. The Lake Forest, Illinois-based company had net income of $135 million on revenue of $2.1 billion for the nine months through Sept. 30. Rank\u2019s other assets include Pactiv, which supplies packaging for fast-food chains.<\/p>\n
(Updates with Monday\u2019s stock price advance in third paragraph.)<\/p>\n
–With assistance from Jack Witzig and Steven Crabill.<\/p>\n
To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Stupples in London at bstupples@bloomberg.net;Andrew Heathcote in Melbourne at aheathcote4@bloomberg.net<\/p>\n
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum, Michael Hytha<\/p>\n
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com<\/p>\n
Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.<\/p>\n
\u00a92020 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n