Though he appears to be gradually easing back on the daily running of his sizable business portfolio, 70-year-old Auckland property investor Mark Wyborn continues to own substantial holdings in some of the country’s most notable properties.
Wyborn’s extensive portfolio includes Viaduct Harbour Holdings, a powerful group that bought 28ha of land around Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour viaduct from Ports of Auckland in 1996. Though mostly a passive investor, the company has been active as development of the Wynyard Quarter has ramped up, selling nearly one hectare of its increasingly valuable asset to Chinese company Fu Wah in 2016.
Wyborn is also a director at Tramco Group, a property behemoth that has holdings worth more than $1.8 billion in assets. One of the group’s investments is in the massive 25,000ha Wairakei Estate, 10km north-east of Taupo. In early 2019, an attempt by Wyborn, alongside fellow long-time investment partners Trevor Farmer and Ross Green, to change up to 1300ha of the estate to dairying from cropping and forestry came to broader attention when they were ordered to make their plans public, against their wishes.
Wyborn has long had an interest in horses, with a particular eye on winning the prestigious New Zealand Derby. He was out of luck in 2019’s race; despite a pre-race surge in the betting stakes, his horse Nobu finished second to last.
Keeping things in the family, several companies – including Wyborn Capital Properties – have been created with shares equally divided between Wyborn and his children. Particularly notable is son Justin, himself a property investor, who replaced his father as a director at Viaduct Harbour Holdings in 2015.
2018: $405 million