Lowy Family Group

By 1998, as managing director at Westfield and approaching his mid-forties, David Lowy wanted to change his lifestyle. Passionate about flying, he had just become the Australian Aerobatic Champion. Every weekend, while he was out flipping his plane, his father was silently praying for Sunday night to arrive without incident. But David wanted to do other things too. Frank, initially unhappy about the idea of losing him as an executive at Westfield, turned it into an opportunity to diversify the family's investments. He sold down 13 per cent of their Westfield shareholding, netting $450 million which went into LFG. David formally became its chief executive and in 1999 began investing the money. With a small investment team, and with dividends flowing in from the family's large shareholdings in Westfield and its spin-offs, LFG's assets have grown to well over $4 billion.