Sir Humphrey Michael Gerard Fay (born 10 April 1949) is a New Zealand

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodi ...

er and partner in the merchant bank

Fay Richwhite Fay, Richwhite & Company is the investment vehicle of Switzerland-based New Zealand merchant bankers Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite. The firm was the prime focus of the "Winebox Inquiry" which dealt with, among other things, tax-avoidance ...

. He is one of the ten richest men in New Zealand. His personal wealth was largely acquired during the late 1980s and early 1990s, which included the period in which he had a significant role in the structural adjustment of the New Zealand economy undertaken by New Zealand's

Fourth Labour Government The Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand governed New Zealand from 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. It was the first Labour government to win a second consecutive term since the First Labour Government of 1935 to 1949. The policy agenda o ...

. He is thought to be worth in excess of NZD 920 million, making him the 10th richest New Zealand citizen in 2017.

Early life and family

Fay was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on 10 April 1949. He was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland and St Patrick's College, Silverstream, and studied law at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, graduating

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1971. In 1983, he married Sarah Ann Williams, and the couple went on to have three children.

Fay Richwhite

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 ...

are best known for gaining wealth in a series of loosely regulated privatisation and asset swapping transactions that occurred between 1986 and 1993 - involving their companies European Pacific, Capital Markets and

and the former state owned operations

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking), big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in D ...

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

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 ...

, and the pension accounts associated to them. One notable transaction among these actions was their role as advisors to the government on the sale of New Zealand Rail Limited to overseas interests; a deal in which Fay and Richwhite later bought 31.8 per cent of the shares, and were subsequently investigated for insider trading by New Zealand authorities.

Securities Commission case

In October 2004 the New Zealand Securities Commission accused Richwhite and Midavia Rail Investments, a company owned by Richwhite and Fay, of

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider information ...

. Richwhite was alleged to have tipped off Midavia to sell $63 million worth of Tranz Rail shares, whilst knowing Tranz Rail faced financial problems undisclosed to the public. In June 2007, Midavia paid $20 million to settle insider trading proceedings relating to Tranz Rail. The commission stated that the payments had been made "without any admission of liability". The settlement is the largest of its kind ever seen in Australasia.

America's Cup

Fay backed New Zealand's first

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

campaign in 1987, which won through to the challenger's final before losing to a US entry from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. In 1988 Fay backed a challenge to the

San Diego Yacht Club San Diego Yacht Club is a yacht club located in San Diego Bay. It is located in Point Loma across from a spit of land known as Shelter Island. Facilities The San Diego Yacht Club facility has a main dining room and outdoor deck seating, a ba ...

, who had just won the

. Rather than wait three to four years and join a general international challenge as had been the custom for thirty-five years, he had his legal team review the original

Deed of Gift A deed of gift is a signed legal document that voluntarily and without recompense transfers ownership of real, personal, or intellectual property – such as a gift of materials – from one person or institution to another. It should include a ...

. The Deed of Gift was the document drawn up by the owners of the 100 Guineas Cup, won by the yacht America, to offer the cup for international competition. The deed did not specify a time delay between challenges, nor were competitors limited to compete in a particular class of boat, nor did boats have to be the same size or class. Fay financed the creation of '' KZ 1'', a large single-hull

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

which complied with the original Deed of Gift but was much larger and hence faster than the

12-metre class The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

boats which had been used for

competition for many years.

Dennis Conner Dennis Walter Conner (born September 16, 1942) is an American yachtsman. He is noted for winning a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics, two Star World Championships, and three wins in the America's Cup. Sailing career Conner was born September ...

, skipper of the American defender, responded by building the multihull Stars & Stripes (US-1). Court actions followed which, after initially ruling a mismatch and requiring forfeiture, decided that both boats complied with the original Deed of Gift. Fay sailed on the boat during the 1988 America's Cup. The Stars & Stripes catamaran easily won. The bad press generated by Fay's heavily litigious approach to yacht racing heralded an era of better management and agreement for future challenges. In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours, Fay was appointed as a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

, for services to merchant banking and yachting. Fay was inducted into the

America's Cup Hall of Fame The America's Cup Hall of Fame, located at the Herreshoff Marine Museum of Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, honors individuals for outstanding achievement in the America's Cup sailing competition. Candidates eligible for consideration include skippers, ...

in 2002.

Sport and Domicile

Fay is also the chairman of and was the financial backer of the

Samoa national rugby union team The Samoa national rugby union team (also known as Manu Samoa) represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are also known as Manu Samoa, which is thought to derive from the name of a Samo ...

. Fay now resides in New Zealand and, with David Richwhite, owns Great Mercury Island. They have spent $750,000, matching the same amount contributed by the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

, to make the island (which is open to the public) pest-free, in a programme beginning in 2014.Michael Fox, "Private Funding Sways Conservation Decisions", ''The Dominion Post'', 9 June 2014, p. 2.

References

External links

Emirates team New Zealand

33rd America's Cup, KZ-1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fay, Michael 1949 births Living people Businesspeople from Auckland New Zealand people of Irish descent People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland People educated at St. Patrick's College, Silverstream Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand bankers New Zealand Knights Bachelor New Zealand expatriates in Switzerland America's Cup Businesspeople awarded knighthoods 1988 America's Cup sailors