In New Zealand, the financial titan builds a trophy collection of game-changing resorts
Hedge fund billionaire Julian Robertson Jr first visited New Zealand in 1978 on a yearlong sabbatical from his asset manager’s job at Kidder, Peabody. With his late wife, Josephine, and two young children (4 and 1) in tow, “we just picked up and went down there,” the 80-year-old Robertson says in his slow-cooked Southern drawl. “My wife shouldn’t have let us go. I shouldn’t have been stupid enough to go. We couldn’t afford it or anything.”
The plan in Auckland was to write a novel, the autobiographical tale of a young Southern man who moves to New York City. (Robertson was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina.) He finished the book, but it remained in his desk drawer. “I think I write fairly well, but I learnt during that year that I am not a novelist by any stretch of the imagination,” says Robertson.
The year in New Zealand turned out to be fruitful nonetheless. While there, Robertson came up with the idea for Tiger Management, the hedge fund that would eventually turn him into a financial legend and billionaire. And his wife gave birth to their third child (another son) shortly after their return to the States. “New Zealand just became a magical place for us,” says Robertson.
Nearly two decades later, that magic became manifest in the form of three world-acclaimed, high-luxury New Zealand lodges. In 1995, Robertson went back to look over a working sheep farm near the Bay of Islands on the North Island. The 6,500 rolling acres also happened to include virgin rain forests with mind-bogglingly huge kauri trees, waterfalls, three private beaches flanked by black lava flows, and the volcano that produced them. He decided to buy it on the spot. Shortly thereafter, he says, “I came to realise that it was so much more fabulous than I’d ever dreamt. To have all of this right by the sea is just amazing.”
Most of Cape Kidnappers’ 24 guest rooms are in separate buildings and have gas fireplaces, wide verandas, and spectacular views of hills tumbling down to the Pacific. Walking trails crisscross pastures, primordial forests, and a field with 6,000 lavender plants. Hawke’s Bay also happens to be a prime location for winery tours (including Robertson’s own Te Awa).
(This story appears in the 21 December, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)