Seven seems to be a recurring number for Greeks on the Business Review Weekly’s (BRW) Rich 200, with that number of Hellenes in the list for the past three years.
The BRW Rich 200 lists Australia’s two hundred wealthiest individuals and families, ranked by personal net worth.
Reigning as Australia’s most affluent Greek for the past three years is Con Makris, ranking at 47 and valued at $1.03 billion. Makris, a veteran property developer with projects in Adelaide, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, migrated to Australia in the 1960s and spent his early days running barbecue chicken shops before venturing into property in the 1980s.
Australia’s second richest Hellene is Kerry Harmanis, founder of Jubilee Mines in Perth. Harmanis ranked number 83 and is valued at $617m. Jubilee Mines was sold to resources giant Xstrata in 2007 for a total of $3.1 billion, which earned the former barrister a profit of $500m.
Those who climbed the list from last year’s placings include Nick Politis, owner of WFM motors in Sydney, and Theo Karedis of Arkadia Property Services. Politis, valued at $594m, climbed 31 places from number 117 in 2014 to 86 in this year’s list.
Politis’ recent increase in wealth is attributed to a large share price increase in car dealer AP Eagers, of which Politis is director. He also owns a string of car dealerships and property through his private company WFM Motors. Theo Karedis climbed one spot from 92 to 91 this year and is now valued at $559m.
Through buying property with another member of Rich 200 – pub magnate Arthur Laundy, Karedis has made a fortune in the liquor sector.
Other Greek Australians on the Rich 200 include Melbourne property developer Harry Stamoulis at number 95, valued at $541m; Spiros Alysandratos, chief executive of Consolidated Travel is at number 174, valued at $332m, and George Koukis, director of Temenos banking software company, at number 175, valued at $329m. Top spot in the BRW 200 list is Gina Rinehart, valued at $14,020 billion.