Harry Triguboff appoints grandson Daniel Hendler as deputy Meriton managing director

One of Australia’s richest men, 91-year-old Harry Triguboff, has set out a succession plan for his apartment development group with some key executive changes.

Harry Triguboff's grandson, Daniel Hendler.

One of Australia’s richest men, property developer Harry Triguboff, 91, has finally announced a major succession plan for the ­nation’s largest apartment development group, anointing his grandson Daniel Hendler as deputy managing director of Meriton.

“It is imperative the business going forward is robust, run well and is not carved up,” Mr Triguboff, worth more than $26bn, told The Australian on Tuesday in an exclusive interview.

“There are many employees, subcontractors, homeowners, renters and hotel guests who rely on the successful future of the Meriton business and that is not lost on the Triguboff family, senior executives or myself.

“I am making this succession plan now because I have hope … we don’t know how long I will last, that is why I am doing it now.”

Asked who will inherit the business, Mr Triguboff said the plan may change, but my current plan is that my two daughters will be the principal beneficiaries and my four grandchildren will also be beneficiaries.

Meriton is building 5850 apartments on the eastern seaboard this year and hopes to complete at least 1500 units by December, principally in Sydney and on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

However, this 1500-unit target is down on Meriton’s 2018 record when 2550 apartments were ­completed.

Last year, it had revenue of $3.13bn and just over one thousand employees, according to IBISWorld, making it Australia’s 10th largest private company.

Stressing that he was not slowing down, Mr Triguboff said it was imperative that he leaves the company in such a way that it would be easy to run.

Harry Triguboff says the “strategic appointments” reflect Meriton’s commitment to maintaining robust leadership.

Hendler, 34, the son of Mr Triguboff’s daughter Sharon and her husband, clothing executive Gary Hendler, is a seasoned Meriton executive who trained in property economics at the University of Technology, Sydney.

He has more than a decade of experience with Meriton and hands-on experience in leading key development projects and assisting Mr Triguboff in overseeing projects and corporate strategy.

Ariel Hendler, brother of Daniel Hendler, will continue to manage the 13,000 units Mr Triguboff personally owns, while Mr Triguboff’s granddaughter Ella, the daughter of Orna, a rabbi, will continue to work across Meriton’s various divisions.

Mr Triguboff said the company also manages 30,000 units on behalf of investors.

As managing director of Meriton, Mr Triguboff said he would continue in his role at Meriton.

“As long as I am healthy, I will work. And like 60 years ago, when I just started, I never did it by myself. I always surrounded myself with people who are the best at what they do and who are just as focused on the business as me,” he said. “I have to leave this business in such a way that it is easy to run, and that depends a lot on me.”

Albert Chan has been appointed as general manager of Meriton.

“The big problem is building; I am trying to build less, because building is difficult. All the businesses with building have not done well. I have 13,000 apartments that I lease that brings in probably six to seven times more profit than the building profit, but the building part gives me the chance to make that profit,” he said.

Mr Triguboff also announced on Tuesday the appointment of Albert Chan, who joined the ­Sydney-based Meriton in 2008, as general manager of Meriton.

Over the past 16 years, Mr Chan has held several senior positions within Meriton.

Mr Triguboff said the “strategic appointments’’ reflect Meriton’s commitment to maintaining robust leadership and securing a dynamic future for the company.

Other senior Meriton executives include James Sialepis, director of residential sales; Matthew Thomas, general manager of Meriton suites; Brad Goodman, chief financial officer; and head of construction Charbel Rabie.

Having trained and worked as a textile engineer in coastal Durban, South Africa, and Israel, Mr Triguboff came to Sydney in the 1960s.

He noted there were no apartment blocks in the city’s eastern suburbs and immediately commenced developing unit blocks.

“When I looked at property, it made a lot of sense to me because there were no apartments here in Sydney,” he said in a recent interview. “The ones developed before the war were very few.

“I always liked apartments because I thought that was the ­future. In due course, I understood why I was correct.

“I used to look out from Sydney’s Dover Heights to Bondi Beach. There were no apartments. In China, England, and Israel, we had them, but we didn’t have them in Australia, and I knew there was a big demand for them.”

Having developed more than 70,000 apartments on Australia’s eastern seaboard – and watched as the textile industry closed down – Mr Triguboff appears to have made the right decision to jump ship, all those decades ago.

Meriton’s largest project at present is under construction on Queensland’s Gold Coast – the 90-level $1.85bn Cypress Palms tower.

Meriton reports apartment sales are particularly strong on the Gold Coast.

Originally published as Harry Triguboff appoints grandson Daniel Hendler as deputy Meriton managing director