KEY POINTS:
So Graeme Hart is still New Zealand's richest man.
But - given the way he structures his multibillion-dollar deals - he may also be the most debt-laden New Zealander.
The combined value of his businesses is north of $7 billion.
The NBR Rich List credited Hart with net
wealth of $2.7 billion this week.
That suggests debt of more than $4 billion. Enough to humble even the most ambitious Auckland home buyer.
So will Hart be sweating about the global credit crunch? Don't bet on it.
As the world's most heavily leveraged businesses feel the heat, the idea that he may find his empire overstretched is compelling for a nation of tall-poppy cutters.
But he won't be worried. In fact he may even be celebrating.
The credit crunch is all about cash.
A housing market slump in the US has wiped out some low-level lenders and that has created a more risk-averse environment among the bigger banks. They just aren't so keen to lend any more.
That can create big problems for businesses with tight cash flow.
The likes of Bridgecorp, for example, heavily invested in property developments, faced too long a wait for the returns.
But Hart has cash flow - and it's not likely to dry up any time soon.
Part of his genius has been to make his big plays in sectors that are almost recession proof. In the past year he has moved from staple foods to paper and packaging.
He used to clip the ticket when you buttered your toast. Now he clips the ticket when you buy a carton of milk, a paper or ... well, let's not spell it out ... Carter Holt is a big manufacturer of toilet paper. That's not something anyone's likely to cut back on in a hurry.
Because he's got cash flow the banks love him. They've fallen over themselves to lend him money in the past seven years.
And his timing has been impeccable. He jumped into the big league in 1997 when he paid about $500 million for a majority stake in food and beverage company Burns Philp.
That was the last time he really had to sweat over a deal. The business turned out to be in worse shape than he thought and the share price plummeted. But when he needed more capital the banks backed him.
It's now looking as if he has shrewdly made his biggest plays in what will go down in history as an era of easy credit.
As the curtain falls on that era, Hart is less reliant on the banks than ever. Those familiar with some of his biggest deals say he has all his financing in place and won't need to talk to the bankers again for some time.
If his last two big buys - Swiss packing giant SIG for $3.3 billion and struggling US packaging firm Blue Ridge for $500 million - are leveraged to typical levels, Hart must still have plenty of money in the bank.
When he bought out the remains of Burns Philp in August last year, he unlocked $2.9 billion in cash reserves. Conservative estimates at the time were that he could leverage that up to about $12 billion of firepower. Clearly, he has used less than $4 billion of that firepower.
Meanwhile he has sold assets - $1.5 billion of Carter Holt forests and, last month, $300 million more of Carter Holt property. If he wasn't already happy with Carter Holt, the NZ dollar's fall has boosted its profitability.
Meanwhile, Hart's biggest rivals in the hunt for acquisitions - the private equity players - are likely to be toning down their activity in the tight credit environment. In the past few years they've been doing deals so heavily leveraged that Hart's debt levels now look conservative.
If private equity players do limit their activity, Hart will find less competition for the kind of assets he wants. Particularly in Australia, where the market has been too hot for his liking lately.
When the dust finally settles on this global shakeout, he will be ready to go bargain hunting.
* Liam Dann is deputy editor of the Business Herald.
