Fay, Richwhite & Company is the

investment vehicle An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages inc ...

of Switzerland-based

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

merchant bankers Sir Michael Fay and

David Richwhite David MacKellar Richwhite (born 1948) is a New Zealand investment banker and was a partner in Fay, Richwhite & Company with Sir Michael Fay. Educated at King's College, Auckland and the University of Otago, where he graduated in 1974 with a Bach ...

. The firm was the prime focus of the "

Winebox Inquiry The Winebox Inquiry was an inquiry undertaken in New Zealand to investigate claims of corruption and incompetence in the Serious Fraud Office (New Zealand), Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Inland Revenue Department (New Zealand), Inland Revenue Dep ...

" which dealt with, among other things, tax-avoidance arrangements in the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

. The publicity surrounding the inquiry generated considerable public ill-feeling towards Fay and Richwhite, and was one of the principal reasons for their emigration to

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

. Fay, Richwhite were investors in the Bank of New Zealand, which was sold to National Australia Bank in 1992. Fay and Richwhite were also involved in a series of transactions between 1986 and 1993 involving their companies European Pacific Investments; Capital Markets; Fay, Richwhite; the Bank of New Zealand;

Tranz Rail Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited (New Zealand Rail Limited until 1995), was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003. History The New Zealand railway network was initially ...

; and

Telecom New Zealand Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digital division) ICT services to businesses. It was know ...

, transactions in which they personally gained over half a billion dollars at the same time as their minority shareholders lost NZD$277 million. Fay and Richwhite also made NZD$274 million from sales of

share options in September 1993 without having to put up any capital in advance. Both men relocated to

in the late 1990s and Richwhite has since moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Tranz Rail

Fay and Richwhite were advisers to the New Zealand Government on New Zealand Rail Limited from 1990 to 1993 and then distanced themselves from the arrangement to sell the SOE. The Bolger National government

privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

New Zealand Rail Limited in 1993. The company was sold for $328.3 million to a consortium named Tranz Rail Limited, made up of merchant bankers Fay, Richwhite & Company (31.8% via the investment company Pacific Rail, later renamed Midavia Rail), the American railroad Wisconsin Central (27.3%),

Berkshire Partners Berkshire Partners is an American private equity firm based in Boston. It has invested in over 100 middle market companies since 1986 through nine investment funds with aggregate capital commitments of more than $16 billion. Berkshire has devel ...

(27.3%), Alex van Heeren, the owner of Huka Lodge, 9.1% and Richwhite family interests, 4.5%. Tranz Rail borrowed $223.3, and its shareholders contributed $105 million to the acquisition price through the purchase of 105 million Tranz Rail shares at $1 each.

References

Investment management companies of Switzerland {{finance-company-stub