The Huljich brothers: Chris Huljich (Christopher Peter) (b. 1950), Paul Huljich (Paul Richard Huljich) (b. 1952) and Michael Huljich (b. 1957) are Auckland manufacturers, merchants, entrepreneurs, rentiers and philanthropists.
The Huljich brothers, sons of an Auckland restaurant proprietor turned urban developer, grew up in Auckland, and were educated at St Peter's College.[1]
The Huljich brothers founded a food manufacturing business specialising in small goods (e.g. processed meats bought from a delicatessen, such as sausages, pâté and salami). This enterprise grew into the Best Corporation which operated an important segment of the market in New Zealand and owned considerable assets in Australia.[2] In the late 1990s the three brothers sold Best Corporation to French food company Groupe Danone and also sold valuable Australian assets.[3]
In 1997, having cashed up, the Huljich family's wealth was estimated to be $70 million and the family was the seventh richest family on New Zealand.[4] Some of this wealth went on building. In the late 1990s, Paul Hljich completed a modernist mansion of three floors in Auckland called "Wentworth". This included garaging for eight cars, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a rifle range and a cinema. The house cost almost $20 million and was "perhaps the most expensive house built in New Zealand during the late twentieth century"[2] and it is one of the biggest houses ever built in New Zealand.[5] In 2010 the Huljich family is reported to be worth about $125 million. [6]
John Banks has said that he knew the Huljich family from 1972 when he opened his first restaurant, Becky Thatcher's Coffee Kitchen, in Karangahape Road. The three Huljich brothers ran a nearby juice distribution business and ate breakfast at Banks' cafe most mornings. Banks said that "They are very careful, cautious and prudent investors ... and they have kept mostly off the radar screen. I have been in business with the family in various ways and they are one of the great Croatian families in this country." [7] In 2007 the son of Chris Huljich, Peter Huljich, with the support of Banks and former National Party leader and Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash set up a "boutique funds management company" in downtown Auckland, partly to manage the Huljich family's extensive investment portfolio. The operating company, Huljich Wealth Management (NZ) Ltd, also established three KiwiSaver funds to target "high net-worth individuals although smaller investors can gain access through KiwiSaver or through the balanced fund". John Banks said he, Brash and the Huljichs "would be fairly choosy about who invests with us".[7]
In 2010, Peter Huljich admitted responsibility for "lapses" in investment practice where he topped up the company's KiwiSaver fund from Huljich family funds to make up for losses incurred in order to retain the fund's favourable market performance figures and appear more profitable than competitors. Peter Huljich's management role was taken over by the company's chairman, Don Brash and Hulich was replaced on the Board of the company by Chris Huljich, his father.[6]