Supermarket supremo Paul Blackwell and his wife Liz remain involved with the Breakers basketball team despite relinquishing their controlling stake late last year.
They are staying on at the club they owned for 13 years, now as minority shareholders, with Paul staying on the board to continue his influence that led the team to unprecedented success in the Australian National Basketball League.
New investors come in the form of a consortium headed by former NBA player Matt Walsh and business partners Adam Goodman, Romie Chaudhari and NBA All-Star Shawn Marion.
“The time is right for new investors to help lead and move the club forward with a renewed commercial focus,” Blackwell says.
“The NBL is going ahead in leaps and bounds, the club must move with it and we have made the decision now to ensure the success and growth of the club."
The Blackwells own the lucrative Albany Pak’nSave supermarket, one of the country’s largest, and Paul sits on the board of Foodstuffs North Island.
They have acquired a modest property portfolio that includes houses in Auckland, Omaha and Mangawhai and a commercial property in Auckland.
Meanwhile, their investment company, Takapuna Investments, is a 49.5% shareholder in PQ Blackwell, a publishing company Paul launched with his brother Geoff and editor Ruth Hobday back in 2003.
Geoff has been the driving force behind this business and his big breakthrough came in 2007 when he published Diana: The Portrait, the only book to be fully endorsed by the late princess' estate.
Through that he met the late Nelson Mandela, who contributed a forward to the book, and he went on to produce four books with the former South African leader, including the acclaimed Conversations with Myself.
Geoff has worked with other international luminaries including Bishop Desmond Tutu and controversial Burma leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
PQ Blackwell also owns Milk Tailor Made Books, a print-on-demand photo book business.
Publishing is part of the Blackwell family’s heritage: Paul and Geoff’s parents were publishers who established their own specialist sports imprint, Moa, which they sold to British publisher Hodder.
Paul and Liz live on Auckland’s North Shore and have four children.