South African billionaire heir Richard Enthoven buys $12 million Sydney beach house

South African-born tycoon Richard Enthoven, a member of the family behind insurer Hollard and the Nando's restaurant chain, has been revealed as the buyer of an oceanfront home in Sydney's North Bondi for A$17.4 million, or about $12.1 million.

The four-bedroom house at 148 Hastings Parade, in the Ben Buckler enclave at the northern end of Bondi Beach, changed hands quietly in June, property website Domain reported. Settlement documents show the property was bought in the name of his wife, Karen, according to Domain, which described Enthoven as the "Nando's billionaire."

The sale was handled by Ric Serrao and Kate Woods of Raine & Horne Double Bay. The seller was not named.

A rare Ben Buckler sale

The freestanding, architect-designed house was built by Pamment Projects and has views over the ocean, a heated mosaic-tiled swimming pool and direct private access to the North Bondi Golf Course, according to Domain. Inside, it has European oak floors, natural stone finishes, a gas fireplace, heated bathroom floors and a custom home office, along with a coastal terrace, an entertaining courtyard and a triple garage.

The property last sold in 2015 for A$3.9 million and was then rented out. The June sale was only the second time it had been offered in about 80 years, Domain said. The new price is almost four and a half times what it fetched a decade ago.

Ben Buckler, a headland at the northern tip of Bondi Beach, is one of the most sought-after pockets of Sydney's eastern suburbs because houses there sit directly above the water and rarely come up for sale.

Back in the eastern suburbs

The purchase returns Enthoven to Sydney's top-end property market. He and his wife bought a four-level waterfront mansion in Point Piper, with five bedrooms, a private jetty, a boatshed and a pool, for A$18 million in 2015 and sold it for about A$22 million in 2019, according to Domain. They also sold a home in Bellevue Hill for A$7.3 million in late 2015.

Enthoven founded Hollard Insurance's Australian business, which has grown into one of the country's larger general insurers, selling home, car, pet and business cover through partners and its own brands.

The family behind Hollard and Nando's

The Enthoven family built its fortune in South Africa. Hollard was founded in Johannesburg in 1980 and became the country's largest privately owned insurance group. The family's investments also include a controlling stake in Nando's, the peri-peri chicken chain that started in Johannesburg in 1987 and now has more than 1,200 restaurants in about 30 countries, and the Spier wine estate near Stellenbosch.

Dick Enthoven, the patriarch who built Hollard and took control of Nando's, died in December 2022.

The Bondi purchase follows other big property moves by wealthy South Africans abroad. Naspers chairman Koos Bekker has spent recent years building up an estate of more than 2,700 acres in Somerset, England, around his hotel, The Newt.