Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper is a New Zealand property developer and investor, and one of the richest people in New Zealand. He is the founder and executive chairman of Cooper and Company, the private investment group behind the restoration of Auckland's Britomart precinct.

From Kaitaia to big business

Born in Kaitaia in 1951 and head boy of Kaitaia College, Cooper is of Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Kurī and Te Aupōuri descent, and one of the most successful Māori business figures of his generation. He worked his way up through New Zealand business, holding senior roles at LD Nathan and Company and the brewer Lion Nathan, before founding his own firm in 1989 and moving much of his life and business to the United States.

Restoring Britomart

His most visible legacy is Britomart. Cooper and Company took a cluster of historic and partly derelict buildings in downtown Auckland and turned them into one of the city's most successful commercial and hospitality quarters, blending careful heritage restoration with new development over more than two decades. The precinct is now widely cited as a model of adaptive reuse, mixing restored Victorian and Edwardian warehouses with modern towers, shops, bars and public space.

Building in California and Texas

The company's reach extends well beyond New Zealand. From bases in Newport Beach, California and in Texas it has assembled a substantial international property portfolio, including the multi-billion-dollar Southlake Town Square development near Dallas, a large master-planned retail and residential town centre. That mix of New Zealand and United States property has made Cooper one of the country's wealthiest expatriate business figures. He is a regular fixture on the National Business Review Rich List, though he keeps a famously low public profile for a fortune of its size.