Aaron Hickmann explainer: Behind the millionaire South Australian entrepreneur
A serial entrepreneur and multi-millionaire, the businessman is rarely far away from a deal – or a headline. So who is Aaron Hickmann?
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He’s the millionaire South Australian entrepreneur who this year quit SA for Queensland to capitalise on the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
But just one week before a major sporting event his company is a chief sponsor of, the offices of Aaron Hickmann have been raided by federal agents.
It’s the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the founder of lighting company Vailo, who was the victim of a terrifying home invasion in May, could face disqualification as a company director and is involved in a tax dispute in relation to a beachside mansion.
Here’s everything we know about Aaron Hickmann.
Who is Aaron Hickmann?
A serial entrepreneur and multi-millionaire, Aaron Hickmann’s empire has included directorships of at least 47 companies.
He started his first business when he was 15, was named the SA entrepreneur of the year in 2021, and describes himself as an innovator.
The father of two started his first business in high school.
He sold PlayStation memory cards, securing a factory supply and invigorating a restless entrepreneurial drive that was not blunted by hundreds of failures.
He burst into the minds of SA’s movers and shakers in mid-2022 with a bizarre “speech” to 700 people at a Business SA lunch on July 1, as he introduced Premier Peter Malinauskas.
Mr Hickmann, in a nearly 30-minute address, told the crowds his six tips for becoming wealthy and successful.
They were: Trust yourself; Break the rules/break the mould; Don’t be afraid to fail; Don’t listen to the naysayers; Work your butt off; Give something back.
He also has – or has had – an extensive property portfolio across some of Adelaide’s most affluent suburbs, including Unley Park, Beaumont and Glenelg – together with regional South Australia, before a move to Queensland earlier this year.
An enthusiastic supporter of sports, Mr Hickmann appears to be an avid basketball and motorsport fan.
His flagship company VAILO, which last year underwent a “rebrand”, also has partnerships with multiple codes and clubs across Australia.
Vailo is also the naming sponsor for the Adelaide 500 motorsport race, which event organisers say they are “very pleased” about.
Premier Peter Malinauskas this week said he has paid all his bills.
What is VAILO?
The company makes LED lighting and scoreboards for stadiums and sporting fields.
Its website states lighting products “offer ultra high-powered lighting efficiency as well as boasting some of the lowest-in-class weights and wind load”.
“Our flagship sporting luminaire, the Zenith was launched in 2015 with the release of the Gen-I,” the site states.
This product, it states, was installed in its first sports lighting project at the Adelaide 36ers Arena, formerly Titanium Security Arena.
Among his high-powered lawyers is the Adelaide-based Greg Griffin
He has also used crisis public relations expertise from an Adelaide firm Hughes PR.
“As a scale-up, VAILO has an energetic team that values culture, and Aaron values his staff and treats each as family,” a blurb on his website states.
“He leads courageously, taking the VAILO team on a collaborative journey to create innovative solutions and having fun along the way.”
In a statement this week, he did not address whether creditors were unhappy with his company.
“Manufacturing supply chains globally are experiencing pressures, but we are navigating with continued positive investment,’’ he said.
Controversies
Mr Hickmann exploded back into prominence this week after federal authorities raided his offices as part of an Australian Taxation Office investigation.
ATO agents, who had Australian Federal Police assistance, had its SA and Queensland offices searched on Wednesday, which occurred a week before the Adelaide V8 race.
It is unclear why the offices were raided, or if any items were seized.
Mr Hickmann did not respond to inquiries.
His lawyer said: “There is a matter with the ATO, with an objection. It is not related to Vailo. Aaron Hickmann has been compliant.”
Details of the inquiry emerged after detectives investigated a terrifying home invasion in May last year at the inner southern suburbs property.
There us no suggestion this alleged crime is linked with the ATO investigation.
Three masked bandits, who have not been identified, tried to raid his Adelaide mansion in Unley Park while his family slept.
No arrests have occurred.
Mr Hickmann, who has denied any wrongdoing, is not charged with any offences.
His business history
Vailo, formerly called Valo before a planned expansion into the US, is the flagship company linked to Mr Hickmann.
It is an advanced technology company specialising in manufacturing ultra-high-performance LED sports lighting and LED digital displays tailors to sporting venues and major outdoor events.
Its sister company Vircura, in 2022, revealed a plan to make South Australia the industrial hemp capital of the country, and created the Monarto Innovation Project for the endeavour.
At least 60 hectares of hemp crops were reportedly planted at the Monarto facility.
The company said it had planted 12000 tequilana agave plants at Willunga in winter 2024, stating that, when harvested, the plants “can be used as a feedstock in bioethanol or hydrogen production”.
Or distilled to make agave – an alternative to tequila.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission records reveal Mr Hickmann took over as majority shareholder of BBS Pharmaceuticals in March 2022, and was director of the company until his resignation in October.
BBS Pharmaceuticals was licensed to produce medicinal cannabis products from its growing facility in regional South Australia and had plans to sell to both domestic and overseas markets.
However, after a series of delays and legal battles, the project stalled and administrators were appointed to take control of the company’s affairs.
After creditors agreed to wind up BBS, Mr Hickmann faces the possibility of being banned from managing a company for up to five years, as he has been a director of at least two entities placed into liquidation in the past seven years.
ASIC records show Mr Hickmann resigned as a director of Virtuous Research Pty Ltd, in August 2020, weeks before the company was wound up in December that year.
ASIC has the power to disqualify a person from managing a corporation in those circumstances, but must first give that person an opportunity to demonstrate why they should not be disqualified.
ASIC must also be satisfied that the disqualification is justified.
Records lodged with the corporate watchdog ASIC also reveal the Hickmann family established Artana Amusements in September 2023.
It also lodged an application to take over the iconic Glenelg venue The Beachhouse’s liquor licence.
Corporate records show he is the sole director of Zamaz Property Eight Pty Ltd, which also owns a Glenelg-based $345,000 marina berth on Holdfast Promenade.
His property empire
Known properties owned by Mr Hickmann or his family stretch from South Australia to the Gold Coast in Queensland, where he moved his company Vailo in 2023.
Property records show a company directed by Mr Hickmann’s wife Maxine Joyce Hickmann, 30, bought a waterfront home in exclusive Sanctuary Cove for $12.11 million in September last year.
The luxury home’s features include a basement “wine club” housing 2000 bottles, a heated infinity-edge pool, riverside firepit lounge, executive office, gym, boat shed and 30m pontoon for mooring a superyacht.
Another of Ms Hickmann’s companies bought a second Sanctuary Cove home for $2.41 million a month later.
Property records also show Mr Hickmann paid $2.8m for the company’s initial headquarters at 47 King William St in July 2021, and later acquired an adjoining property for $2.2m in March 2023.
He acquired a property at 60 Greenhill Rd – initially to be used for the company’s expansion before relocation to Queensland – for $10.5m in 2022.
Records reveal the Wayville property was subject to a mortgage to NAB, and a caveat held by Bizcap – a small business lender that holds caveats over several of Mr Hickmann and wife Maxine Hickmann’s properties in Adelaide and the Gold Coast.
Property records show he sold his former Whistler Ave home, Unley Park, for $7.65m in February.
That earned him a more than $1.2m profit.
Another eastern suburbs home, on Lascelles Ave, Beaumont, sold in his name in October last year for $2.05m.
Treasury legal dispute
The state government has slapped a legal “caveat” restriction on a luxury $4.6m Glenelg South property, and a $345,000 Holdfast Bay boat marina berth Mr Hickmann owns.
Title documents revealed Revenue SA, through the Commissioner of State Taxation, still holds a legal caveat over the property, which is a buyer warning invoking certain restrictions including on sales or land transfers.
The caveat, which is disputed, was still live this week.
Government documents state the caveator is claiming: “An estate or interest as first chargee pursuant to Section 22(1) of the Land Tax Act 1936 on the said lans for the payment of Land Tax not paid after the date upon which the same became due and payable.”
Mr Hickmann has said it was actually the SA Government which was indebted to him.
“Land Tax office owes (me) $120,000 in credit and is being applied to any amount owing,” he said.
“An apology is also being sought as a caveat should never have been lodged.”
A Treasury spokeswoman said at the time: “A very low proportion of properties will ever have a caveat.
“They are only utilised when all channels and efforts to contact the land owner have been exhausted.”
What is his connection to the Adelaide 500?
After Clipsal dropped its naming rights sponsorship of the Adelaide 500 Supercars event in 2017, Mr Hickmann was fundamental in returning the race to the city streets after it was briefly cancelled under his VALO brand in 2022.
The car buff even put his matt army green Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO 2 collector’s edition on display for the December event.
But the next year, organisers were forced to deny any problems over their dealings with Mr Hickmann over his failed medicinal cannabis venture, BBS Pharmaceuticals.
This year, the Adelaide 500 has again stood by its “strong relationship” with the businessman.
Speaking on Friday,
Motorsport CEO Mark Warren said he was pleased to have the Vailo founder, millionaire businessman Aaron Hickmann, providing financial support to the local street race, despite federal agencies raiding the offices of the company’s founder.
Mr Warren also said they were open to discussions around extending Mr Hickmann’s contract after the completion of the current term.
“At this stage, this is the third year and he’s got a two year option to extend the contract,” he told the media. “So we’ll certainly be having those conversations.”
Meanwhile, Premier Peter Malinauskas confirmed Mr Hickmann has paid all his bills ahead of next week’s event.
Mr Malinauskas, who found out about the raids when he read about them in The Advertiser, told ABC radio Mr Hickmann had “met his obligations’’ with regards to Vailo’s sponsorship of the Adelaide 500, which will be held next weekend.
Where is he now?
Mr Hickmann and his family relocated to the Gold Coast in January to capitalise on the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, he has said.
The Queensland Government said it did not court Vailo or Mr Hickmann to move to the Sunshine State, but welcomed innovators north.
In a media release in August about his company’s move into Queensland, Mr Hickmann said it would “benefit from being part of an entrepreneurial, innovative and progressive environment in which to conduct business”.
“The Queensland community is incredibly supportive to local manufacturing, while backing local companies for local projects and I’ve appreciated meeting with Queensland manufacturing Minister, Glenn Butcher, to discuss the Made in Queensland Program,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Butcher said the Minister did not specifically endorse Vailo and that it had not received any state government funding.
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