Unmasked in Malibu: Buyer of multiple burned lots tied to Mowbray brothers
A company owned by two New Zealander brothers who built their fortune off toys and consumer products is behind the recent purchase of multiple burned lots in Malibu.
Nick and Mat Mowbray, who founded Zuru Group, also own development company Zuru Tech US LLC. The latter entity and its El Segundo address appear across the deeds and state registration statements tied to nine Malibu land sales that occurred between March and the first half of this month.
Kevin Shelburn, who is the founder of Mar Vista-based Shelburn Realty Group, first unraveled the mystery via a video he posted on Instagram.
The Mowbrays’ involvement was unknown when Realtor.com first broke news of nine lots on La Costa and Carbon beaches in Malibu selling for a total of $65 million. Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Weston Littlefield and Alex Howe brokered most of the deals on behalf of the buyer.
The two declined to divulge the identity of their client in an interview with The Real Deal last week.
Eight of the sales tied to Littlefield and Howe in the Multiple Listing Service — sold for between $5 million and $13.8 million — all track back to the Mowbrays’ local Zuru entity with the business filings signed off by U.S. director of operations Marcel Fontijn. A ninth lot, which sold for $5 million, was handled by Keller Williams’ Benyamin Illulian and can also be traced to the Mowbrays.
A message left at Zuru’s El Segundo office was not returned Monday afternoon and an email listed online as the contact for the office bounced back.