Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. The exclusive parties, the exotic holidays, the hook-ups, the break-ups, and the high stakes business deals - this new Thursday column pulls back the curtain to reveal how New Zealand’s other half live.
Society Insider: Kiwis at America’s Cup, Anna Mowbray’s empire, Jemima Hawkesby’s 21st, Topher Richwhite and Bridget Thackwray’s baby joy
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Anna Mowbray's (centre) business empire is expanding; Kiwi rich listers (from left to right) Paula and Simon Herbert and Steve Owen and Swedish partner Madeleine Ansehn are all believed to be in Barcelona to watch the America's Cup sailing. Photo / Herald composite image
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One very private rich lister told Society Insider that “Barcelona is going off”.
“It is quite incredible what they have done here and the amount of effort the city has gone to, to create a fantastic atmosphere and environment.”
At an event last week at the Royal Barcelona Yacht Club, one very wealthy Kiwi whispered to another, “There are more billionaires in this room than anywhere in the world right now”.
The Herberts, who own Auckland’s Bayswater, Hobsonville and Pine Harbour marinas, have had their Azimut Grande luxury super yacht H on the Mediterranean through the European summer.
The multi-millionaire couple has recently purchased an apartment in Monaco and it is understood they were sailing H to Barcelona last weekend.
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Once there, they are expected to moor next to Owen’s equally impressive boat Maverick and Lane’s superyacht Ad Lib.
Known for going all out, the Herberts are expected to show their support for Team New Zealand, with the boat and crew fully decked out in TNZ flags and outfits.
Society Insider hears Lane has real estate maestro to New Zealand’s uber-rich, Graham Wall, on board his boat. Owen is believed to have his longtime Swedish girlfriend, respected interior designer Madeleine Ansehn, on board Maverick. The yacht has also spent the European summer on the Med.
Other New Zealand rich listers said to have been enjoying the sailing in Barcelona, are Sleepyhead’s Craig Turner and wife Cara Pollock-Turner, business titan Richard Seton and wife Angela, Hawea Station’s Geoff and Justine Ross, health and travel magnate Andrew Bagnall and wife Robbie, developer Chris Meehan, Australia-based automotive baron Neville Crichton and Waikato philanthropists Mitch and Kate Plaw.
Although many Kiwi Rich List families travelled to Europe to enjoy the Mediterranean’s peak summer heat, not as many as expected are turning up for Team New Zealand’s racing.
Multi-billionaire Graeme Hart’s recently acquired 103m mega yacht Ulysses has been seen in some of the Med’s most exclusive hotspots like the Turkish and French Rivieras and the Greek Islands. New Zealand’s second richest man Hart and his wife Robyn proudly hosted their granddaughter Jemima Hawkesby’s 21st at their Glendowie mansion over the weekend (see story below).
With Team NZ defending the Auld Mug against Ineos Team UK, it is hoped the Ulysses - New Zealand’s largest privately-owned boat - shows up on the racecourse just outside the port entrance breakwater.
British multi-billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos owner and petrochemical engineer, was known to prominently berth his £100 million ($213.5m) 74m expedition yacht on the Waitematā course in 2021.
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A showdown of the competing nationalities’ biggest boats would be on-course fun. Society Insider is told there have been sightings of Ineos co-owner Andy Currie and his 66m superyacht Hampshire. The yacht is a beauty and Currie has been most cordial to visiting New Zealanders.
The most coveted invites are to board the boats of one of Switzerland’s wealthiest men Ernesto Bertarelli, and one of the world’s wealthiest men, Bernard Arnault.
Bertarelli’s 96m US$150m superyacht, Vava II, is still in port, even though Bertarelli’s AC team, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, didn’t make it to race TNZ.
Arnault, who is CEO of LVMH, has a stunning 101m US$150m luxury yacht called Symphony, which is as beautiful as any of his company’s luxury wares.
In the upwardly mobile ranks, a fair few Kiwi boys’ trips and father-and-son sojourns are set to catch all the action on the water, Society Insider is told.
Many of the family and friends of Emirates Team NZ are said to have been welcomed on to the big boats of visiting Kiwis.
While the Louis Vuitton Series was on, Sir John Kirwan was in Barcelona with his family to cheer on his son Nico, who was a cyclor for Luna Rossa.
One of the most popular Kiwi personalities in Barcelona is Ross Munro. A great stalwart of the America’s Cup, he is the major supplier of all merchandise and a long-term supporter of Team NZ. Insiders say Munro is said to be affable to both visiting Kiwis and the crews behind the other yacht syndicates.
One insider called him this America’s Cup’s Bruno Trouble, referencing the French sailor who created the Louis Vuitton Cup and became an honorary NZOM.
Wealthy visitors are said to have booked their accommodation well over a year ago. Barcelona’s Soho House, Edition, Nobu and W Hotels have all been popular accommodation options, but the best spot is Hotel Arts with its two-star Michelin restaurant and sweeping views of the Mediterranean.
The Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup runs from October 12 to 27.
Anna Mowbray’s rapidly growing empire
Rich lister Anna Mowbray might have had a week or two off work when she married former All Black Ali Williams on Fijian private island Kokomo in August, but since then it’s been all business.
A year and a half after ceasing as a director and stepping back from her involvement in global toy giant Zuru - now wholly owned by her brothers Mat and Nick - Mowbray’s entrepreneurial endeavours are flourishing.
Post-Zuru, Mowbray officially launched the recruitment app ZEIL in September last year, became a co-owner of Auckland FC football team alongside husband Williams, and a director of aluminium can manufacturing business Recorp, which has former Air NZ CEO Rob Fyfe as a major investor.
According to the Companies Register, Mowbray is also a shareholder in tech company Trade Windows Holdings Ltd, a software platform that digitises the process of managing exports, and a director shareholder in Waltyn Investments Ltd, a workwear company.
Mowbray threw a one-year birthday party for ZEIL at her and Williams’ $24 million+ Westmere waterfront mansion last weekend.
No expense was spared for the celebration, which included a neon ZEIL sign, a fabulous Z cake and a 360-degree glam cam.
Guests who arrived before the party were treated to a beauty tutorial in Mowbray’s state-of-the-art home spa.
Mowbray and her team celebrated ZEIL’s 110,000 downloads, 1.7 million swipes, and 31,000 job posts, with 4.4 million views working with 2000 companies.
On her Instagram story, Mowbray told followers that the ZEIL team was “truly exceptional” and the year had been “full of darn hard work” as they worked to change the way they recruit and empower talent into the future.
Mowbray was equally proud when ZEIL launched its online presence with zeil.com, seen on billboards around Auckland.
In September, Mowbray was at the Recorp factory to see the first can come off the production line. Recorp is set to transform the beverage industry, with its purpose-built manufacturing plant in Manukau set to unleash 550 million cans annually at a lightning pace of 1850 cans per minute.
The $100m-plus factory has a handful of wealthy business investors. Alongside Fyfe and Mowbray are Forsyth Barr executive director Jonty Edgar, chief executive of Wyborn Capital Justin Wyborn and former Sistema Plastics’ founder Brendan Lindsay.
BusinessDesk reported that Mowbray’s investment in Recorp is $20m.
Society Insider expects Mowbray and Williams to see their investment in football club Auckland FC come to fruition when the team starts their inaugural season in the A-League on Saturday night. The newly created team will play the Brisbane Roar at Go Media Stadium in Mt Smart.
Mowbray and Williams were unveiled as co-owners of Auckland FC at the team launch in March, alongside American billionaire Bill Foley. As well as Wairarapa luxury lodge Wharekauhau, Foley is an investor and CEO in Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, which owns UK Premier league club AFC Bournemouth, and has a stake in Scottish Premiership club Hibernian and French club Lorient, as well as US ice hockey team Vegas Golden Knights.
With the 2024/25 A-League season played back and forth across the Tasman, Mowbray and Williams are sure to be cheering Auckland FC along.
Mowbray has been marketing the team with pride on her LinkedIn page, promoting a competition in which the ultimate football fans can win a glamorous trip to Melbourne in December to see Auckland FC take on Melbourne City.
Was this the ultimate society 21st birthday party?
Jemima Hawkesby, granddaughter of one of NZ’s richest men Graeme Hart, celebrated her 21st birthday in style this week. The party was held at what is understood to be the Harts’ $102m Glendowie clifftop estate.
Jemima’s parents Duncan and Gretchen Hawkesby looked as proud as punch of their daughter, who had as her date her professional cricket player boyfriend Jesse Tashkoff.
Jemima wore a stunning silver satin dress, understood to be by renowned Australian designer Carla Zampatti. Clear balloons and pink bows decorated the party, with additional touches including candy floss on champagne flutes and pastel-coloured cans of Pals.
The pink cake with bows on it was made by Mt Wellington company From Sugar by young entrepreneur Stella, who started the business at age 21 during lockdown.
Guests included Jemima’s grandfather on her father Duncan’s side, legendary broadcaster John Hawkesby, and wife Joyce as well as her aunt, broadcaster Kate Hawkesby.
Her uncle, Harry Hart, was also there with girlfriend, Australian beef baron heiress Cartier Lee, as well as Morgan Lupton - sister of entrepreneur Jaimee Lupton - with partner Tim McGoldrick, brother of broadcaster Laura McGoldrick. Laura is a good friend of Gretchen.
Jemima has recently been getting her own taste for broadcasting. In between her studies at the University of Otago, she has been working as a promotions co-ordinator at NZME in Dunedin including for stations ZM, Radio Hauraki and The Hits.
Meanwhile, the family love a good party. In August, Gretchen - famous for her charity work, most prominently with the Starship Foundation and the Friends of Starship committee - hosted the pre-ball and an after ball for students and their parents from Auckland Grammar, where the Hawkesbys have been staunch fundraisers. The youngest of her four children, DJ Hawkesby, is in his last year at the school.
The party, believed to also have been at the Harts’ estate, saw parents let their hair down after DJ and his friends left for the Paris Nights-themed ball at Grammar’s Great Hall. The family had set up a projector to watch Lisa Carrington win gold in the K1 500m final, making her Paris Olympics a gold trifecta.
The parents’ knees-up included dancing and singing to the Exponents’ Why Does Love Do This to Me.
Baby joy for intrepid couple after being detained in Iran
A new chapter has begun for intrepid Kiwi husband and wife Topher Richwhite, 36, and Bridget Thackwray, 29, with the arrival of their first child.
The pair became world famous for their Expedition Earth journey, travelling the length and width of the globe by Jeep.
It has placed them in all sorts of precarious situations in dangerous spots around the world, most notably being detained while travelling through Iran in 2022.
Queenstown-based Richwhite and Thackwray welcomed baby boy Mackellar Richwhite – nicknamed Micki – on August 10. Society Insider is told Thackwray gave birth in Christchurch.
The name MacKellar links back to Richwhite’s 18th century Scottish ancestor, Patrick MacKellar, a renowned military figure who was instrumental in the Siege of Quebec and the capture of Havana. For five generations, the Richwhite family have carried a tradition of using MacKellar as a middle name.
The couple married in 2022 at the Great Mercury Island property of Richwhite’s father, merchant banker David, during a pitstop back in New Zealand.
They had been advised to get married before the Middle Eastern part of their expedition, and to have an escort meet them at the border to accompany them throughout the Iranian leg.
That July the couple was detained in Iran and, for four months, their Instagram page with nearly 300,000 followers went silent.
With the help of the NZ Government and Mfat, they made it home to New Zealand in October 2022, issuing a statement to say they were “relieved and happy” to be back with their families.
Since being back in New Zealand and basing themselves in Queenstown, they have started a business called Faraway Entertainment Ltd. The eco-tourism venture is seeking council approval to establish and operate a glow-worm cave – including live glow-worms – on a 119ha site off Gorge Rd, opposite the Queenstown Community Gardens.
Having 2-month-old baby MacKellar hasn’t slowed down Richwhite and Thackwray’s plans. Busier than ever, they are splitting their time between Queenstown and attending regular meetings as a family in Auckland. There they are consulting with designers and engineers for the glow-worm Eco-Cave, some of whom have previously worked on The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film sets.
The Eco-Cave expects up to 100 visitors at a time and up to 1200 a day during peak season, who will meander through the cave, along a walkway, to view the glow-worms.
The application for resource consent is still being processed through Queenstown Lakes District Council but Society Insider is told the couple has had a very positive and supportive response from the community. The venture is slated to open in early 2027.
Acting ‘nepo baby’s’ time to shine
Zac O’Meagher is the son of entertainment royalty and despite his parents’ reservation, he’s followed in their footsteps.
His dad, Steven O’Meagher, is one of New Zealand’s most successful film and television producers and his mum, Theresa Healey, is one of our most celebrated actors.
Next Thursday, it’s the next generation’s time to shine with O’Meagher hitting screens on Three’s new show n00b, which is being described as New Zealand’s answer to teen angst shows like Derry Girls, Sex Education and Misfits.
“With a mum who is an award-winning actress and a dad who is an International Emmy-nominated producer, I had a funny feeling from a very early age that the film industry was for me,” O’Meagher tells Society Insider.
The self-deprecating 23-year-old actor admits that – to his parents’ relief – his little brother Xavier is set to become a lawyer and not a “nepo baby” like himself.
“Mum didn’t want to push me in front of the camera as she knows how tough the industry can be. But as my love for film and TV grew, it became harder and harder to resist that acting urge.”
Set in 2005, n00b follows a group of teens at the fictional Gore College with O’Meagher playing Daniel, the villain of the piece. When the central character Nikau, the school’s confident jock, (played by Max Crean) accidentally outs himself by sharing his online gay fan fiction, Daniel spearheads Nikau’s downfall.
O’Meagher is a proud Sacred Heart College old boy and says although he enjoyed it, school is a complicated time in life and extremely difficult to navigate.
“And at the fictional Gore College in 2005, the social hierarchy, peer pressure and need to fit in, is just as evident as it is today.”
The show is a family affair for O’Meagher, with mum Healey also appearing. It’s a throwback to his first acting job, when Healey played his stroppy principal in rugby drama Head High.
“Theresa Healey is my mum first and my hero second,” says O’Meagher.
“A lot of guys my age would find working with their mum a living nightmare, but for us, it’s just so much fun.
“Although there are times when the camera is on her that I weirdly get a bit nervous.
“It’s like being a proud parent watching their kid play sport – except the roles are reversed.”
The show’s co-creator, Victoria Boult, says that when O’Meagher’s self-filmed audition tape came through, they knew he was their “Daniel”.
“Zac is a lovely person in real life, but onscreen he manages to capture the dichotomy of someone who projects bullish self-confidence but deep down, truly hates themselves.”
Boult created the show with Rachel Fawcett, who are “two self-described queer girls who each found genuine friendship and solace on the internet during the early 2000s”.
Party People of the Week
Last Thursday night the place to be was the Remix Spring Gala at Auckland’s St Matthew-in-the-City. Amongst the crowd of fashionable young A-listers were 62 Management modelling power brokers and agents Tia Harris and Connie Hutton. Last week, we flagged the duo as two of Ponsonby’s most influential people in a power list of the suburb’s top movers and shakers. Also turning heads were entrepreneur Edna Swart, and fashion stylist Sarah Stuart and her architectural designer partner, Luiz Serrano.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.
