Frank Lowy, a Czech immigrant, arrived in Sydney in 1952 via what had been Palestine and became business partners with the Hungarian-born John Saunders in a sandwich shop in the western suburb of Blacktown.

Riding on a local railway boom, which brought an influx of European workers seeking a taste of home, they opened a coffee shop and a chain of delicatessens. When the population grew, they decided to diversify into housing as the local government re-zoned farm land for residential development.

Shopping centres were a natural progression and in 1960 Westfield was listed on the Australian stock exchange. Specialising in the development, design, construction and funding and leasing of shopping centres, the company has about £25 billion in assets under management and a portfolio of 119 properties, covering ten million sq metres of retail space, in Australia, New Zealand, Britain and America.

Mr Lowy, 77, a football fan who has advanced the sport in Australia, is worth an estimated £2.3 billion, making him his adopted country's second-richest man after Andrew Forrest, the mining entrepreneur.

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