Hart tops rich list despite losing half a billion

Graeme Hart. File Photo/Martin Sykes

Graeme Hart still tops the rich list with a fortune of $5.5 billion, despite losing $500 million this year.

The National Business Review Rich List published today puts the Todd family at number two spot followed by Eamon Cleary, then brothers Richard and Christopher Chandler.

Editor-in-Chief Nevil Gibson said Hart has a highly leveraged global packaging business, but the Todd Family is a different story.

"It's old money, they don't borrow anything, they've been rising high on the tide of oil so their fortune stays pretty steady on $2.6 billion.

Gibson said the recession had shaved around $6 billion from the top 155 rich listers which has an impact on many sectors of the economy. He said the rich supported a lot of 'trickle-down industries' such as luxury yachting, which has collapsed due to the fact the well-off are not spending as much.

Gibson said it was getting hard to make new fortunes these days and it was just as difficult to spot someone who has gained during the recession.

The top five men on the list:

Graeme Hart with a fortune of $5.5 billion

Eamon Cleary $2.02bn

Christopher Chandler $1.8 bn

Richard Chandler $1.8 bn

Stephen Jennings $800m

The top five women:

Lynette Erceg $1.2bn

Jan Cameron $340m

Anne Norman $300m

Rosemari Delegat $135m

Susan Stanford $90m

Families:

Todd $2.6bn

Goodman $850m

Spencer $675m

Goodfellow $550m

Gough $300m

- NEWSTALK ZB