Australia’s richest Greeks

People say it's hard being at the top but one would sincerely doubt it would be anything but easy being on the BRW's annual rich list. Seven Greek Australians made the list for 2012, and have gained their wealth in everything from shopping centres; to property investment, to the pearling industry.

Topping the Greeks on the BRW rich list is Con Makris and family with a fortune of $910 million, a drop from last year when they made the list with $1.07 billion. The Makris family have made their fortune in the property industry in Adelaide. Spiros Alysandratos made a return this year on the rich list. He made his wealth from his ownership of the Consolidated Travel Group. Gina Rinehart topped the BRW list having a worth of $29.17 billion.

Con Makris and family

$910 million, last year $1.07 billion Property, Adelaide 65, married twice, four children

South Australian property magnate Con Markis is a man with a lot on his plate. His Makris group portfolio spans commercial and retail assets in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, including Sydney's Bonnyrigg Plaza, Adelaide's City Cross Shopping Centyre, and Victoria's Endeavour Hills Shopping Center. And it's a portfolio that's set to expand. He says work will finally start on the $ 150 million redevelopment of the long-vacant Le Corny site in central Adelaide and the $250 million Encounter Bay shopping centre at Victor Harbor. Makris emigrated from Greece in the early 1960s and worked in a foundry before starting a grocery business and chain of takeaway chicken shops. He bought his first shopping centre in Adelaide in the 1980s. Sons Ross and Jason are involved in the day-to-day running of the group, leaving their father more time to cruise the Greek islands on his super yacht, Ouzo Palace. But even on holiday, work is never far from the patriarch's mind. "I put cameras in my shopping centres, which I check when I'm overseas. If I see something's a problem, I call them straight away."

Kerry Marmanis

$570 million
Last year: $554 million
Resources, Perth.
64. Divorced, two children.

Kerry Harmanis has come a long way from selling seafood at Fremantle's Leighton Beach in the late 70s, to fund his prospecting forays in Western Australia's goldfields. A lawyer by training, Harmanis built a gold tailings processing business in the early '80s and listed his companies, Sir Samuel Mines and Jubilee Gold Mines, in 1987. Harmanis merged the companies into a new entity, Jubilee Mines, in 1991. The company went through rocky times - at one stage, he invested $900,000 of his own savings to keep the company afloat -but in 1996 the gamble paid off after he discovered the rich Cosmos nickel deposit in central Western Australia. When Jubilee's mining operation was taken over by Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata in 2007, Harmanis pocketed almost $500 million. Since the sale, he has more time to pursue interests not normally associated with mining barons: meditation, mandolin playing and tai chi. Harmanis is a strong supporter of the Save the Kimberley foundation, which is fighting large-scale industrial development of the area's pristine environment, and other philanthropic causes including youth suicide prevention programs.

Theo Karedis

$470 million
Last year: $487 million
Property investment, Sydney.
76. married, two children.

Theo Karedis built his fortune by setting up the Theo's Liquor chain of liquor stores. In December 2002, he sold the business to the then Coles Myer for about $175 million in cash and shares. Since then the supermarket giant Coles has made substantial gains in liquor and Karedis and his son Greg have been buying real estate. The businesses include the Karedis Investment Group. There's also Arkadia, headed by Greg, with a retail portfolio worth more than $400 million. Its retail centres include a mix of neighbourhood and bulky goods centres on the eastern seaboard, In February, the family bought The Zone Maroochydore, for about $19 million, but with retail property outside the Sydney CBD declining in value, so, too, is their wealth.

George Koukis

$315 million
Last year: $326 million
Technology, Geneva
65. married, two children.
Earlier this year, George Koukis stepped away from Temenos, the banking software company he created in the late 1980s with the backing of a Hong Kong investment bank, by buying the technology division of a moribund company and refocusing it to develop core banking systems. He bought the business for a little under $1 million. It came with 25 employees, some interesting software but no customers. By the time Koukis stepped down as chairman of Temenos, it had become one of the leading banking software suppliers. By February 2011, the company had more than 60 offices worldwide, serving more than 1500 customers in 125 countries and a marked capitalisation of $3.2 billion. Over the past 12 months he's followed his resignation with a gradual sell-off of his shares, netting a cool $315 million in cash. That's not bad for an entrepreneur who began his career by losing his life savings in the 1987 sharemarket crash.

Spiros Alysandratos