Graeme Hart used to drive trucks and worked in a car shop to make living. He had no choice. He didn't have money to finish high school so he dropped out.
Fast forward to 2020; Hart is now the wealthiest man in New Zealand. A decision to enter the world of equities and stocks made him what he is now -- a person who loves cool yachts, arcade games, and yes, even submarines.
Hart's assets and properties got another major valuation last week, after the stock market launch of Reynolds Consumer Products Inc, the Hefty trash bags and aluminum foil manufacturer.
Stocks soared almost 10 percent to settle at $28.55 late Friday, making his stake in the company at $4.5 billion, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed. The company's rally continued Monday, with company shares climbing further to 3.8 percent.
The 64-year old billionaire has a majority share in Reynolds through the Rank Group, his private equity company that is based in Auckland, with the consumer goods business his biggest source of cash, analysts said.
Hart has managed to keep a low profile despite his influence, and he is not timid when it comes to spending extravagantly: he is known as a compulsive shopper of state of the art yachts, including the 116-meter Ulysses.
With a price tag of around $200 million, the yacht has lots of space for a helicopter to land on, and another smaller vessel strapped on its front deck.
One of Hart's most recent boats, also named Ulysses, featured a Batman pinball arcade gaming equipment, and a decommissioned US Navy submarine clamped on the yacht's fore deck that served as an underwater vehicle for five or six people.
Hart, a philanthropist and businessman who just gave out $10 million for low-cost dental care in South Auckland, has a fortune estimated at $10 billion by Forbes magazine.
After dropping out of high school in his mid-teens and working as an auto repairman and truck driver, he obtained an MBA from the University of Otago in New Zealand where he created the foundations of his leveraged-buyout technique for various deals he made in the last 30 years.
Rank Group established Reynolds in 2010, mainly via a merger of the Reynolds and Hefty business divisions with Presto Brands.
The Lake Forest, Illinois-headquartered firm had a net income of $135 million on $2.1 billion sales for the first three quarters through September 30, last year. Rank's other assets include Pactiv, which supplies packaging equipment for fastfood companies.
