Grant Baker’s first car was a Mk 1 Ford Cortina. Now he owns a number of Ferraris, including the sporty 458 Speciale, along with some 1960s Jaguars and a Lotus Cortina.
The contrast in fortunes shows the rise of the Auckland businessman who started out as an executive with a variety of companies, including Ubix Business Machines and Eric Watson’s Blue Star Group.
His most successful venture was co-founding 42 Below vodka with Geoff Ross, which was then sold to liquor giant Bacardi for $138 million in 2006.
Off the back of that he and Ross, along with Stephen Sinclair, formed the venture capital firm, The Business Bakery.
Baker owned 40% of the company which built up cornerstone holdings in financial services company Dorchester Pacific, fragrance and skincare business Trilogy International and craft brewer Moa Group.
It sold out of its 31.22% stake in Trilogy International in March 2018 after a $211 million takeover by Citic Capital China Partners. The Business Bakery agreed to pay transactions costs to get the deal over the line with shareholders.
Baker says the sale was the catalyst for the long-time partners to end The Business Bakery, splitting the remaining assets between including its 13.72% stake in Moa. Baker says he now personally holds around two million shares.
The firm also owned about 10% of Turners Automotive Group, which was formed when listed finance company Dorchester took over Turners Auctions in 2014.
The company’s annual reports show The Business Bakery owned 8.46 million shares in 2018 while Baker owned 2.9m in his own right. The 2019 annual report shows Baker’s company Montezemolo Holdings now holds 6.1m shares.
Baker is a motor racing enthusiast and Turners sponsors Kiwi motor racing prodigy Liam Lawson, who featured on the cover of the company’s 2019 annual report. Baker was pictured beside a Ferrari.
Turners reported revenue of $336.6 million and net profit of $29m for the year ending March 2019. It also announced in August a “refresh and refocus” of its business to fire up its languishing share price, including selling off less competitive units, increasing its digital presence and buying back more shares on market. As chairman Baker got a $40,000 payrise for the role to $150,000 in the 2019 financial year.
Baker is also a 4.3% shareholder in finance services group General Capital which migrated onto the NZX main board from the NZAX in June and a 50% shareholder in Velocity Capital GP which is the majority shareholder in marketing agency, The Good Brand Company.
He and his wife, Donna, live in a St Heliers home valued at just under $10 million and he has a number of other property interests.
Baker's career was nearly cut short when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2006.
He found there was little research in that area of gut-related cancers. Baker was approached by a pair of oncologists, who asked if he could help them raise money for research, so he did. As a result, Baker was a shareholder and director of the GI Cancer Foundation until November 2018.
He even put some of his prized Ferraris on public display in 2015 to raise money and awareness of the disease that nearly killed him.
As for his Ferraris, he has some advice for those thinking about buying one. “Oh, just do it,” he told driven.co.nz. “Don’t think of the practicalities, just make the decision. Don’t die wondering.” Photo: NewsPixNZ
2018: $110 million