Airwork started out in 1984 with 15 staff based in Christchurch and Auckland’s Ardmore Airport. By the time Hugh Jones sold the aviation support business it was a diversified company that employed 400 people and owned a fleet of nine Boeing 737 aircraft and 30 helicopters.
In the 1970s the industry developed and Airwork moved into the engine overhaul business. It also became a listed company in which Brierley Investments built up a substantial shareholding.
In late 2016, the company, which had contracts with everyone from the New Zealand Police to freight distributor Toll, caught the eyes of Chinese investors.
Having pocketed $17.5m when Airwork listed in 2013, Jones cashed in again in late 2016 when China’s Zheijang Rifa swooped on the company with a partial takeover offer that saw him net another $120m.
Rifa is a private joint-stock conglomerate with interests spanning textile machinery, precision machinery, agriculture and animal husbandry, cultural and sports industry, general aviation, and financial investment.
Jones banked another $36 million in late 2017 from the sale of his remaining interest in the publicly listed Airwork Holdings, which was taken over and delisted by its new Chinese owners.
Jones live in a $12 million home on Auckland’s North Shore and has a sizeable residential, commercial and industrial property portfolio that includes 19ha of land awaiting development near the Clevedon village.
2018: $195 million