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.
The lots on prime oceanfront real estate could make good case studies for Zuru Tech’s “digital solution for construction” of homes and commercial buildings. Among the items the company touts on its website is the ability to manufacture prefabricated concrete walls that promise fireproofing and earthquake resistance. The company also uses digital printing for finishes such as wood, marble, stone, metal and other prints and patterns.
The Mowbrays founded Zuru Group in 2003 and, according to a late 2024 Bloomberg report, the company was projected to have revenue of $1.7 billion in that same year. The business’ growth pushed the brothers onto the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Zuru first found success with toys like Bunch O Balloons (water balloons that fill up fast and seal themselves) and Mini Brands (think mini Q-tip, Barbasol and other miniatures of brand-name items). The brothers then moved into personal care items with the Rascal and Friends diaper brand, hair car line Monday, and pet food under the label Nood, among several other segments.
The Mowbrays didn’t stop there, entering real estate construction with software that allows for homes and buildings to be designed online with the materials produced in the company’s China factory.
Bloomberg reported Zuru acquired its 25-acre factory in China to make homes with plans to send those test structures to Los Angeles this year.
Nick Mowbray told Bloomberg Zuru’s housing business is set to “dwarf everything we’ve ever done.”
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