Graeme Hart is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 businessman reported to be the richest person in Australasia with a personal fortune of NZ$8.8 billion (US$6.1b) according to the 2009 Forbes

Forbes

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

 rich list. The 2007 September 22–28 issue of the New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener

The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...

listed Hart as being the 29th most powerful New Zealander. He prefers to stay out of the general media and makes few public appearances.

Much like other leveraged buyout

Leveraged buyout

A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...

 (LBO) private equity investors, Hart has a preference for buying under-performing and under-valued companies with steady cash flows which can be turned around through strong cash management, cost-cutting and restructuring with other businesses.