Sir Douglas a Roundtable knight

Douglas Myers beer baron and one of New Zealand's richest men, has been made a knight companion for his services to business, sport and education.

"You're supposed to say you feel humbled, but I don't feel very humble. I just feel very pleased and happy," Sir Douglas said.

"I said to someone the other day you don't get much pleasure when you get older, quite the reverse most of the time."

Sir Douglas, CBE, 71, is a former long-serving chief executive and chairman of Australasian brewer Lion Nathan. He was most proud of the survival of the company he founded, Lion Nathan, after it expanded into Australia.

"Against all the odds and most of the commentators, certainly all the commentators over there, we survived and were successful."

He remains proud that the board and management team that took over after he left were the people who were there with him and they had "gone from strength to strength". He retired from the Lion Nathan board in 2001 and is now based in London.

"I always thought if you're lucky enough to get the opportunity of doing something that you find interesting and challenging, that if you can leave it in a better state than you got it, then that's a big sign of success." The success of Lion Nathan also showed New Zealand could win in business, as well as sport, and was a lesson he hoped others would take up.

A keen supporter of Kiwi sport, Lion Nathan was a major sponsor of both the All Blacks and the winning America's Cup yachting team.

"Kiwis often put themselves down and are sometimes maybe lacking in self-confidence that they can do well ... I said [to winning America's Cup team leader Peter Blake], `Come on, let's see if we can do better than [Sir] Michael Fay, who had a great challenge, but wasn't successful'," Sir Douglas said.

He remained unapologetic about taking often controversial political stances. "Well, I wouldn't say it's a hell of a lot of fun. I think after a time it gets a bit tiring, or maybe as you get a bit older you get less resilient. I think it's just a price of doing things your own way and a bit differently in New Zealand.

"You do invite attack, but would I have rather not have done things I did and not be attacked? No."

Being called Sir Douglas "sounds pretty funny, to tell you the truth. You cruise along for 71 years as you are, and then suddenly you've got something else. But my father was knighted, my grandfather was knighted, so ... it puts a little bit of pressure on my son".

Sir Douglas was a co-founder of the Business Roundtable lobby group and its chairman from 1990 to 1997. Present chairman Rob McLeod said Sir Douglas was an "outstanding leader who made an extraordinary contribution to business public affairs and the community".

"Douglas is one of those rare business leaders with a clear understanding of public policy and business management and what differentiates the two," Mr McLeod said. Sir Douglas was also willing to speak out on national issues and put the country's interests ahead of personal popularity, he said.

Sir Douglas made his fortune selling most of his personal 16 per cent stake for $473 million in the 1998 partial takeover of Lion by Japan's Kirin, elevating him to the country's richest man at the time.

After taking the reins of the then family firm in 1965 he led Lion Nathan's expansion through the New Zealand Wines & Spirits joint venture with New Zealand Breweries and into Australia, where the company bought Bond Brewing, competing head-on with Australian giant Foster's. Sir Douglas was among a group of leading businessmen who played significant roles in the free-market reforms.

Former Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark excluded Sir Douglas from an important brain-storming meeting with the Cabinet in 2000 for criticising government policy.

He has been a vocal critic of New Zealand's national pastime of knocking people more successful than themselves and its inward looking perspective.

- © Fairfax NZ News