All in the family — the Chandler story

The Chandler brothers’ legacy began in Auckland in 1903, when Chicago-born Edward Chandler founded an advertising firm, Chandler & Co.

In 1973, his son Robert and his wife Marija opened Chandler House, a department store in Hamilton. In 1982, sons Richard and Christopher joined the business. The company grew to include a department store in Auckland and a chain of fashion stores.

Four years later, Richard and Christopher began their own story, establishing Sovereign Asset Management.

They invested in emerging markets, often at times of political and economic uncertainty. Sovereign began by investing in Hong Kong real estate in 1987 and went on to be among the first portfolio investors in Brazil and Russia.

In the 2000s, Sovereign returned to Asia, investing in listed companies in Japan, India and South Korea.

In 2006, following the de-merger of Sovereign, Richard Chandler established the Clermont Group, in Singapore.

Christopher Chandler, meanwhile, is based in Dubai where he founded the Legatum Institute, a think-tank involved in global projects, and did have links to backers of Brexit. He’s also invested in GB News, a rightleaning British TV channel that has had a bumpy first year on air with high staff turnover and recently attracted new backers after Discovery sold out.