North Shore businessman John Copson may have dropped out of sight as a director of his Crown Group of companies but his investment team has been busy adding to an already impressive property portfolio.
In early 2018, Crown Group’s property manager Chad Cathcart revealed that Copson Holdings had allocated $200 million to acquire what he described as “well-located New Zealand commercial property with strategic upside.” One such acquisition was the 9000m² Auckland Hyundai and Isuzu yards on Greenlane’s so-called Golden Mile, which was bought for $25.5m.
The company outlaid $7.65m for a large commercial property at Albany that adds to a string of recent commercial property investments on the North Shore. Included in the spend up was the $25m paid for a large hospitality precinct in Copson’s heartland of Takapuna where he owns numerous properties.
Born and educated on the North Shore, Copson was behind the flashy Main Beach development of three restaurants overlooking the Takapuna foreshore. However, his much grander plan for a $250 million suburban redevelopment on a 1ha beachfront site worth $14m remains on ice due to Auckland Council resistance.
Now in his late 50s, Copson has spent more than 30 years in the finance and insurance sectors and founded the Autosure New Zealand and Crown Insurance businesses that were sold to Vero for $68 million in 2004. He then went on to create Westar Capital before establishing the Crown Asia Pacific Group, which is managed by Chris Arbuckle and Chad Cathcart.