Yet the US-owned fund found its lease breached foreign buyer rules by taking an interest in residential land without permission. YMCA told the Herald it was not involved in the compliance breach.
Nearly eight months after signing the lease, Everest self-reported to the OIO, whose team acknowledged the mistake could “be somewhat understood”.
A “YMCA hostel accommodation” was “not a typical residential property”, they wrote in documents obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act.
However, the company was still hit with a $20,000 penalty.
A land rush is taking place to acquire the rooftops and land underneath New Zealand’s mobile phone and internet towers and cell sites – with charities and golf clubs among the targets.
The middlemen on the roof
Everest is a newcomer in a fast-moving field as foreign investment funds target the land and so-called passive tower assets that help run New Zealand’s mobile and internet networks.
A major sell-off made headlines in 2023 when Canadian-backed company Connexa spent $1 billion buying 1124 passive towers from 2degrees.
Connexa then moved again in late 2024 to buy Clearspan, a deal that made the company New Zealand’s largest holder of land under mobile towers, according to a press release from its Canadian pension fund owners.
Everest is now looking to muscle in.
Its US website describes the company as a “premier purchaser of wireless infrastructure” such as cell towers and of “rooftop lease buyouts”.
Its New Zealand arm has targeted landowners with existing cell towers on their properties.
Case studies on its website included the Manawatu Golf Club, Mt Maunganui Golf Club and Carrington Estate winery and golf course in the Far North.
The Manawatū club’s relationship with the US-owned company started with a “cold call”, the club’s general manager told Everest’s website.
The club wanted funds for a new facility and had to contemplate exchanging regular rent payments it received from the cell tower operator on its land “for a lump sum cash payment” from Everest.
Everest then became responsible for collecting the cell tower rents.
Everest’s website said its team approached Carrington Estate at a time when the luxury golf getaway was on the hunt for new income sources.
The US-owned company offered to do a free analysis of Carrington Estate’s rental agreement with the cell tower operator, the case study said.
That turned up “multiple overlooked rent reviews”, so Everest offered a bigger lump sum to take over and own the tower lease.
The website of Everest’s US rooftop management business said its aim was “maximising current and future tenant lease revenue”, with mobile phone operators not easily able to pick up their equipment and move.
Everest Infrastructure NZ approached Carrington Estate in the Far North with a cold call offering to give them a lump sum to take over the rental rights for the cell tower on their land. Photo / NZME
16sq m of residential rooftop
At Lower Hutt’s YMCA, Everest won the lease rights for the rooftop below an existing cell site.
Land records show Aotearoa Towers Group LP – the former Vodafone towers business now called Fortysouth – lodged a legal caveat against the YMCA property’s title to protect its interest.
The OIO papers showed Everest paid $255,000 to lease the 16sq m patch of roof below Fortysouth’s assets, signing the deal in February 2024.
However, in October 2024, Everest reported itself to the OIO.
OIO documents said Everest was considered an overseas person because it was “predominantly owned by United States of America-based investors”.
That meant it needed consent before taking an interest in New Zealand residential land.
OIO officers called the breach inadvertent, and set the penalty at $20,000.
Everest Infrastructure NZ didn’t respond to the Herald by deadline.
A spokeswoman for Fortysouth said she could not comment on the Lower Hutt lease.
However, landowners were “increasingly being approached by international companies wanting to buy their cell site leases”, she said.
“We encourage anyone considering an offer to make sure they understand what selling their lease could mean for the future management of their site.
“If a landowner receives an approach to sell their lease, we encourage them to talk to us first so we can explain what it could mean for their ongoing relationship with Fortysouth and the management of the site.”