At the age of 78, Auckland property investor Mark Wyborn has pretty much retreated from the day-to-day running of a huge property portfolio that includes major shareholdings in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour and the central North Island.
Along with long-time investment partners Trevor Farmer, Alan Gibbs and Ross Green, Wyborn remains a major shareholder in Viaduct Harbour Holdings, which bought 28 hectares of Viaduct Harbour land from Ports of Auckland in 1996 and turned it into a $1 billion land bank that draws a steady and no doubt lucrative income stream from ground leases.
In early 2018 VHH found itself in the middle of the battle to decide where the 2021 America’s Cup bases should be sited on Auckland’s Waitemata waterfront when it criticised Team NZ plans to extend Wynyard Wharf. VHH chief executive Angela Bull said the extension would be a visual barrier to the waterfront and Team NZ responded in vitriolic style saying: “Anything they come up with will be laced with money-making self interest.”
While mostly a passive investor, VHH has unveiled plans for a luxury hotel on the old Simunovich Fisheries site overlooking the Viaduct. Renamed ‘One Market Square’, the 165-room, five star-hotel will provide stunning views of Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf and Bull says it will be a world-class development that all Aucklanders can be proud of.
Wyborn’s other major investments include a quarter share in Tramco Group, the property investment company that owns the huge 25,000ha Wairakei Estate in the central North Island, which has been partially converted into dairy farms leased by Landcorp.
Nowadays, the former bulldozer contractor is represented on various boards by his property investor son, Justin, who manages Auckland’s Vantage Group and Vantage Properties. Perhaps with succession in mind, several companies have been created with shares equally divided between Wyborn senior and his children including Wyborn Capital Properties which owns a small portfolio of industrial buildings in East Tamaki.