Sir Paul Adams was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to business and philanthropy.
He’s the founder of Carrus Corporation, one of the Bay of Plenty’s largest property developers, which has developed thousands of sections in Tauranga.
The family trust-owned company is managed these days by his son, Scott, to allow Adams and his wife Cheryl, who he met at high school, to spend more time on their philanthropic endeavours.
He was quoted when knighted that he believed “anyone successful in business within a community has a corporate and social responsibility to support and give back to the community."
It is not the first time he has been recognised in the Queen's Honours List after being made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for business and philanthropy in 2015. He is seen receiving the honour with then Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae.
His Paul Adams Bethlehem Charitable Trust provided half the funding to establish the University of Waikato’s Adams Centre for High Performance, which opened at Mount Maunganui in 2016 and he was a driving force in the university setting up a Tauranga campus.
Carrus Corporation is a major sponsor of Waipuna Hospice, and Adams has contributed to IHC and Riding for the Disabled, along with some local sporting and arts organisations.
As chairman of IHC’s wholly-owned subsidiary and social housing provider Accessible Properties, the 70-year-old also helped it take over Tauranga’s stock of 1140 state houses in April 2017.
Adams was raised in a state house in the Hutt Valley by his solo mother after his parents split when he was aged 11. He has said he has always had a drive to help others.
He initially worked in construction and consultancy after qualifying as a civil engineer before investing in kiwifruit orchards in the Bay of Plenty in the 1980s, buying land and promoting syndicated kiwifruit orchards that were managed by his company, Bay Horticultural Services. His kiwifruit empire grew to 45 orchards, 11 packhouses and cool stores, employing 200 people.
He set up Carrus in 1990 in Tauranga and in the past few years it has extended into Rotorua, Taupo, Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington.
It took patient negotiations with the Bank of Scotland for a year to buy the struggling Lakes residential development on the southwestern edge of Tauranga which had been hard hit by the global financial crisis and gone into receivership in 2011.
Carrus Corporation finally bought the development for about $30 million and it is one of 25 subdivisions the company has completed along with 13 commercial developments.
The development company is repeating The Lakes urban design model in Porirua with the well-advanced 246ha Aotea development and is also advertising two other new residential developments – Kenepuru in Porirua and Nga Roto Estate in Taupo.
Adams keeps busy as a director of Kordia and was a founding director of Priority One, Western Bay of Plenty’s economic development agency.
He has invested $2.5 million into Oriens Capital, going by his half-share in Commercial Fund Investors, which has a 10% stake. Oriens’ investments include Hawke’s Bay apple company Rockit Global and the Retirement Income Group.
Adams’ other investments include a 30% stake in Australia consumer products company Pacific Brands.
2018: $145 million