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Packaging magnate Graham Hart has come up trumps again, crowned Australasia's richest man in the latest Forbes annual rich list.
Hart has an estimated wealth of just over $NZ7.5 billion.
The media-shy 54-year-old comes in 144th on the world's rich list.
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim tops the list, knocking Microsoft founder Bill Gates into second spot, Forbes magazine said. It is only the second time since 1995 that Gates has lost the crown.
Slim's net worth is estimated at $53.5 billion, compared to Gates's $53 billion fortune, while investor Warren Buffett came in at No. 3 with $47 billion.
The trio regained $41.5 billion of the $68 billion they had lost the previous year, Forbes said.
The number of billionaires around the world has nearly recovered in 2010 after dropping by a third last year during the global financial crisis. There are now 1,011 billionaires, compared with 793 last year and 1,125 in 2008. Their net wealth grew to $3.6 trillion from $2.4 trillion last year, but is still down from 2008's $4.4 trillion.
The average billionaire is now worth $3.5 billion, up $500 million from last year. And the number of women on the list rose to 89 from 72 last year.
