Page 21 - Forbes - Asia (October 2019)

restrictions. He’s so confident that Meri-
ton has recommenced construction of
several developments that were put on
hold amid the uncertainty before Aus-
tralia’s May elections. Early indications
are he may be right: the victorious Lib-
eral Party moved quickly to implement
property-boosting measures. And inter-
est-rate cuts by Australia’s central bank
earlier this year have already translated
into lower mortgage rates.
eriton was born in 1963
when Triguboff built his first
Mblock of apartments—a mod-
est eight units in a working-class Syd-
ney suburb. Though privately held by
Triguboff, Meriton’s value is estimated
to range from A$10 billion ($7 billion)
to A$15 billion—the price Triguboff
quoted when mulling a sale of the com-
pany in 2015.
Local media dubbed him “High-rise
Harry” in the go-go 1980s and 1990s,
when he built hundreds of units in
high-density developments, most in his
hometown Sydney or in Queensland’s
Gold Coast. Although the company
worked with respected architects such
as Harry Seidler, Meriton’s hive-like
housing has been criticized as archi-
tecturally subpar—former Australian
Prime Minister Paul Keating once de-
scribed such developments as a “disfig-
uring eczema” afflicting Sydney.
Triguboff has a reputation for being
loyal but short-tempered, the latter for
which he makes no apology. “You must
know how to deal with people,” says
Triguboff. “I yell and scream and curse
at people, and yet I’m their best friend,”
he says. “But my people are very happy
with me, and many of them, they’ve
worked with me a few generations now.
Some, three generations.”
This is one key lesson Triguboff says
he is teaching the next generation of the
family to assume leadership—grand-
sons Daniel and Ariel Hendler are heirs
apparent. Triguboff’s advice? “Always
COURTESY OF MERITON they will be loyal to you,” says Ariel, 26.
keep your subcontractors employed and
Daniel, 29, adds another lesson: “Noth-
ing is more valuable than time and to
enjoy what you do.” Triguboff says the
Triguboff (in front with sunglasses)
and family on a rickshaw in Tianjin
China-born
Billionaire
Triguboff’s connection to Asia runs
deep. He is, in fact, a China-born
billionaire and a second-generation
property tycoon. His parents, Rus-
sians who fled anti-Semitism and
Marxist revolution, settled in Tianjin,
China, in 1916. There Triguboff’s
father Moshe used his profits from
trading to invest in property. While
the Great Depression ravaged the
West, China was largely unaffected,
and Moshe and Frida Triguboff’s
second son, Harry, was born into a
well-to-do household in 1933.
“The Chinese were very good to
the Russians who came to China,”
recalls Triguboff, who still speaks
Triguboff in The Scots College with a slight Russian accent. When
uniform in Sydney World War II broke out, the Japa-
nese left the Russians alone thanks
to neutrality between Japan and the
Soviet Union until the latter declared war in 1945. Triguboff’s father was thus able
to continue expanding his property portfolio throughout the war, with Harry keenly
observing. When, in 1948, Mao Zedong’s rise to power appeared inevitable, the
15-year-old Triguboff and his older brother Joseph were sent to Sydney.
The new People’s Republic nationalized the Triguboff family’s real estate
holdings in China. “My father left me a lot of property there, I have all the titles,”
Triguboff says. “But property is the worst thing you can have when there’s a revolu-
tion. You can’t take it away with you.” Although Moshe and Frida were unable to fol-
low their sons to Australia, they found refuge in the newly created Israel (Triguboff
remains a staunch supporter of Israel, financially and ideologically).
They did, however, get enough wealth out of China so that Triguboff and his
brother could attend one of Australia’s leading private schools, The Scots College
of Leeds, and joined his family in Israel to establish a carpet factory with his father
in Sydney. He then went to the U.K., earning a degree in textiles from the University
and brother. In 1960 he returned to Australia, where he dabbled in a number of busi-
nesses, including a cab company and a milk delivery service, before starting Meriton.
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