Sir Ron Brierley: Three guilty pleas and a fall from Olympus
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He was always a private man , says Georgina Beyer, who once slept in Sir Ron Brierley s bed. Oh not when he was in it, of course, she laughs. Rather, it was a coincidence of a broken marriage and her step-father Colin Beyer flatting with Brierley in early 1970s Wellington.
It illustrates the close proximity Beyer enjoyed to watch the creation of a new royalty. Brierley, her step-father Colin and uncle Trevor Beyer, along with others in their circle, redefined wealth in New Zealand.
Those who founded Brierley Investments Limited have been called titans of business but in Greek mythology, the titans were the old gods who were overthrown. Rather, these men were the new gods who savaged New Zealand s traditional definition of wealth.
Sir Ron Brierley, once a lauded corporate raider, now viewed with contempt. (file photo)
Brierley Investments was once the country’s biggest listed company, its eponymous founder famous for hunting down undervalued companies and selling off their assets for a profit. It’s estimated one in every 20 New Zealanders owned shares in the corporate raider, and it made Sir Ron Brierley very rich, with a wealth consistently estimated well over $100 million, elevating him to the top of the corporate world. Now his reputation is in ruins, after the 83-year-old, who lives in Australia, pleaded guilty on Friday to possessing child sexual abuse material, having been detained attempting to board a flight from Sydney to Fiji in December 2019.
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The Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como in Italy was one of the venues for Adrian Cleeve s nuptial celebrations with his bride Wendy Ng.Â
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One fine day in May 2016 on the shores of Lake Como, Adrian Xavier Cleeve exchanged vows with his 31-year-old bride, Wendy Ng. The chief executive of a recently listed tech company, Cleeve spared no expense, lavishing his fiancee with a $118,000 engagement ring to mark the end of a long courtship. The outlay for the special day was at least $320,000.