New Zealand infra fund raises less than expected

The New Zealand Social Infrastructure Fund (NZSIF), a fund targeting social infrastructure opportunities in New Zealand, closed its initial public offering (IPO) last Friday on a less than expected NZ$41 million (€22 million; $29 million).

NZSIF was launched by local investment firm Morrison & Co and investment advisory firm Craigs Investment Partners. They originally intended to raise up to NZ$125 million from the IPO, the proceeds of which would be channelled to the Public Infrastructure Partners Limited Partnership (PIP) fund, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morrison & Co.

But NZSIF ended up raising only about 33 percent, or NZ$41 million, of its original target. The committed capital came from 750 investors including private investors, community groups, charitable trusts, Maori trust organisations and Craigs Investment Partners, the firms said in a joint statement. Still, the partners said they were pleased with the fundraising:

“The level of support from investors for NZSIF was pleasing, particularly with markets going through an unsettled period in recent weeks,” Neil Craig, executive chairman of Craigs Investment Partners and director of NZSIF, said in a statement.

The NZ$41 million raised by NZSIF’s retail investors, together with planned commitments from ongoing discussions with institutional investors, should take the amount raised by the PIP fund to NZ$160 million, the companies said. This prompted Peter Cooman, managing director of the PIP fund, to comment that “we are well on the way to our overall target of raising over NZ$200 million for the PIP fund”.

The PIP fund was launched last October with a cornerstone investment of NZ$100 million from the NZ Superannuation Fund to help fund the country’s social infrastructure needs. The first of these projects is set to be a 1,000-bed male prison in Wiri, in South Auckland, to be procured as a 25- to 30-year public-private partnership.