{"id":347726,"date":"2026-03-25T21:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/347726\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T21:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:57:11","slug":"acc-helps-launch-zealandia-investment-fund-targeting-public-private-partnerships-with-300m-commitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/347726\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC helps launch Zealandia investment fund, targeting public-private partnerships, with $300m commitment"},"content":{"rendered":"Its pitch is that it wants to marry up Kiwi investors with Kiwi infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cPPPs generate stable, long-term cash flows that are typically inflation-linked and supported by government agencies,\u201d Zealandia chief executive Scott Priestley said.<\/p>\n
A PPP is a long-term contract between a government entity and a private company to design, build, finance, and operate public infrastructure or services. It shifts risks and management responsibilities to the private sector while aiming to provide better value for money than traditional procurement.<\/p>\n
Zealandia\u2019s owners include ACC, Mafic Partners, an infrastructure advisory firm, and Priestley \u2013 a former Mafic Partners partner. Its board is comprised of people from both ACC and Mafic Partners.<\/p>\n
So, while ACC \u2013 a very experienced investor in PPPs \u2013 is the cornerstone investor in Zealandia\u2019s fund, it is also involved in its management. <\/p>\n
Zealandia is targeting New Zealand wholesale investors with minimum commitments of $5m. Iwi will be able to invest with at least $2m, and sidestep having their capital invested in prisons.<\/p>\n
The fund has an initial five-year investment period and an indefinite term, reflecting the long-lasting nature of PPP concessions.<\/p>\n
It will aim to deliver pre-tax returns of between 9% and 12%.<\/p>\n
Priestley acknowledged that returns of this magnitude would be \u201creasonable\u201d, but cautioned investors would be taking on some \u201cpretty material construction risks\u201d getting projects delivered.<\/p>\n
Zealandia will invest exclusively in New Zealand-based PPP and PPP-like projects with government or tax-backed revenue streams.<\/p>\n
Priestley was confident future Governments would put enough PPP or PPP-like investment opportunities on the table for Zealandia to invest in.<\/p>\n
He said two PPPs were in procurement \u2013 the Christchurch men\u2019s prison and the road between Warkworth and Te Hana \u2013 and noted the coalition Government intended to develop a pipeline of projects.<\/p>\n
Priestley recognised Labour didn\u2019t have as strong an appetite for PPPs as parties in the coalition, but he believed New Zealand\u2019s infrastructure deficit was such that there would still be a role for private capital in infrastructure under a Labour-led Government.<\/p>\n
Since 2011, eight PPPs have been delivered in New Zealand, including three corrections facilities, two state highways and three bundles of primary and secondary schools.<\/p>\n
In the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission\u2019s view: \u201cPPP projects have delivered good results. <\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, there have been some commercial challenges which affect the future sustainability of PPPs. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government is committed to learning from these, and has updated its PPP framework with model, policy and process enhancements it believes will help make future PPP transactions as successful as possible for all parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jen\u00e9e Tibshraeny is the Herald\u2019s Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Its pitch is that it wants to marry up Kiwi investors with Kiwi infrastructure projects. \u201cPPPs generate stable,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4882,59784,1081,138,25089,334,45435,295,8455,109,33525,34888,1426,3331,93,111,139,69,5898,184858,17902,102,23470],"class_list":["post-347726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-300m","tag-acc","tag-accident","tag-business","tag-commitment","tag-compensation","tag-corporation","tag-fund","tag-getting","tag-ground","tag-hefty","tag-helps","tag-investment","tag-launch","tag-manager","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-partnerships","tag-publicprivate","tag-targeting","tag-with","tag-zealandia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}