It also owns the largest portfolio of marinas in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as 45 shopping centres across Australia.
Republic’s acquisition is being completed through MA’s hospitality division, Redscape Hospitality.
The division is one of Australia’s leading hospitality groups, employing more than 1600 staff across 40 venues in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
MA Financial’s Enda Stankard (left) and Christopher Swasbrook say they are committed to investing and growing businesses in New Zealand.
MA Financial director Enda Stankard said hospitality was one of its specialities.
“It’s an area we know a lot about. This opportunity came up in Queenstown to acquire a hospitality portfolio, and we really saw it as the best portfolio in the best location in New Zealand,” Stankard said.
“It’s a really nice portfolio that’s been built up over 25 years by the team. We’ve inherited a high-quality team, and it’s a great starting point for us to expand from.”
Republic co-founder Mike Burgess said the decision reflected both pride and confidence in the future.
“We’ve loved the journey from opening Winnies in 2001 through to today, and we’re very pleased the team is excited about what the future holds with Redcape,” he said.
According to Republic, the sale represents a natural transition point for the founders, who have spent more than 30 years in hospitality and are now ready to pass the baton.
Stankard said the transition from an operational perspective would be seamless, with day-to-day operations, venue brands and leadership remaining unchanged.
But now, as part of a larger hospitality platform, he said that the group would benefit from Redcape’s scale.
“We’ll be dealing with a larger group, so it helps with procurement. But we can also bring other expertise, staffing, hiring, training, marketing, you name it, there are extra benefits for the local team.
“This is not a sector we’re going into for the first time. This is a sector we’ve been investing in for years and years, and Chris [Unger] and his team are very experienced hospitality investors and managers.”
Unger, Redcape Hospitality’s managing director, said the Burgesses and Republic chief executive Blair Impey had built an incredible portfolio of venues.
“As the hospitality-loving people that we are, we can’t wait to work with Blair and the team as we continue the Republic journey together,“ Unger said.
“We have the pleasure of operating some of Australia’s most iconic venues in its most iconic locations, and these venues are right up there with them.”
Investment scheme key
The acquisition, which is targeting settlement in the coming months, is the second investment for the approved Active Investor Plus (AIP) fund.
The Government pushed through changes in early 2025 to change the AIP visa category, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon saying it would create two “simplified” investment categories that would replace the existing “complex weighting system”.
From April 1, 2025, the visa was split into two categories: Growth and Balanced.
The acquisition, which utilised the Growth category, is one of the first operating-business investments made under New Zealand’s AIP programme, which has attracted over 500 applications since it opened.
Since then, over $3.16b has been committed to New Zealand by applicants.
“The Growth category, which is the most popular category, does not allow investment in companies whose business model is based on a pure property play,” Stankard added.
“Offices, shopping centres, residential, where you collect rent, that’s not permitted, but operating real estate is.
“Things like hospitality, food and beverage, marinas, aged care, childcare, that is allowed.”
Stankard said the acquisition was one of the first examples of a serious investment being made and deployed into a New Zealand business.
He said the investors under the programme were keen to contribute to New Zealand, and were all applying for a residence visa.
“The vast majority of them want to contribute something to New Zealand and help the economy grow.
“We’ve gotten great reaction from investors when we talk them through it. It obviously helps that we’ve got a track record and expertise in the area.”
He also hinted at the possibility of further acquisitions, noting his preference to invest in sectors where they have expertise and in-house capabilities.
“We’re reviewing a couple at the moment, but we will look to diversify. This will be a diversified fund; it won’t just be a hospitality fund over time.
“I think you’ll see more investments like this coming.”
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter – your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.