His father moved to the United Kingdom in the 1930s to escape antisemitism and was subsequently sent to Australia as an enemy alien aboard HMT Dunera.
In 1946 he established Heine Brothers (Australasia) Pty Ltd, which initially focused on food processing but later engaged in commodities trading.
[4] In 1986, Heine and his brother publicly listed their holding company Eurolynx, retaining a 25 percent stake.
He used the proceeds to established Netwealth "with a handful of staff and a business plan to build an online platform for financial advisers to manage their clients' investments on offering dozens of products with state-of-the-art technology".
[2] In 1990, the Australian Financial Review estimated Michael and Leslie Heine to have a combined net worth of A$140 million.