New Property Fund Targets $1bn, Acquires High-Tech Agri Asset
A new wholesale property investment fund aiming to build a $1 billion portfolio of commercial assets by 2030 is acquiring a flagship coolstore in Hawke's Bay that is transforming the way New Zealand apples are prepared for export.
The first asset in the Erskine Owen Veritas Property Fund is set to be a $24 million smart logistics facility operated by Mr Apple, one of the country's largest vertically integrated apple exporters and a subsidiary of NZX-listed Scales Corporation. The 7,000m² coolstore will serve as the Fund's cornerstone investment, under a 20-year triple net lease.
Alan Henderson, director at Erskine Owen, says the facility is a strong example of the export-aligned infrastructure the Fund will focus on.
'We chose this site as the fund's foundation because it ticks all the boxes. It is a core industrial logistics facility, under a long-term lease to a globally competitive exporter, located in a region that is vital to New Zealand's agri-economy.
'We're focused on assets that help drive New Zealand's global competitiveness and that perform well in both stable and volatile markets. These are the kinds of buildings that don't go out of fashion, that provide reliable income and that help sectors like horticulture and agribusiness perform at the highest level,' he says
The PIE Fund aims to diversify across infrastructure, healthcare, manufacturing, office and retail sectors, with a goal of reaching $1 billion in holdings within five years.
Henderson says the capital raise for the Groome Place coolstore is already underway.
'This is a Fund with a long-term growth and diversification strategy, which is intended to spread investment risk across sectors and locations. We are aiming to have $200 million in assets within 12 to 18 months and increase that to a billion dollars within four years after that.
'The asset quality here speaks for itself. There's clear investor appetite for export-aligned infrastructure backed by strong tenant covenants,' he says.
The Groome Place site itself is a leap forward for post-harvest logistics. It incorporates advanced design, automation and environmental controls to optimise throughput and quality, allowing Mr Apple to process around 3,000 bins of apples daily.
Michael Caccioppoli, head of coolstores, logistics and engineering at Mr Apple, says the new system has cut the time between orchard and packhouse by 25 percent.
'This turnaround speed directly supports export quality, and by shortening the time from picking to cooling, we're able to preserve internal fruit integrity.
'That means apples are fresher when they hit the ships. It improves shelf life, reduces quality complaints and lifts the eating experience for millions of consumers around the world, which is critical as we establish markets for new varieties,' he says.
In 2024, 72 percent of Mr Apple's exports were premium varieties like Dazzle, Posy and NZ Queen. The company aims to grow that figure to 75–80 percent by 2027. The new facility supports that ambition with optimised workflows, precision-controlled storage and lower environmental impact, using 15 to 20 percent less CO2 than older sites to slow fruit respiration and delay ripening.
Despite its scale, the coolstore is operated by just eight staff thanks to automation and system integration, enabling tight control over environmental variables. The layout has been designed to reduce handling and labour costs while accelerating the flow of fruit through to export.
Caccioppoli says the benefits go beyond product quality.
'The system helps protect margin and reduce risk in a volatile global freight market,' he says.
Henderson says investors are increasingly seeking assets with reliable returns, and with features that align with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations and export relevance.
'It reinforces our view that there is real demand for high-quality, income-generating assets in this sector.
'The coolstore reflects the kind of high-performance infrastructure we're targeting – efficient, export-driven and future-ready,' he says.
The Erskine Owen Veritas Property Fund is now open to wholesale investors, offering access to income-producing infrastructure assets.1
Notes:
1 Important: The Erskine Owen Veritas Property Fund is open only to wholesale investors under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. The Fund is not suitable for retail investors, and there is no product disclosure statement. This above is not an offer or invitation to invest in the Fund. It does not consider any investor's personal circumstances and is general in nature. No guarantees are made as to the performance of the Fund or any repayment of capital or income. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Investors should obtain independent advice before investing.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
8 hours ago
- NZ Herald
US ties with India trampled as Trump hunts goal of ending Russia's war in Ukraine
This week, Trump seemed ready to ditch that relationship. He doubled already hefty tariffs on Indian exports to the US for its steadfast refusal to stop buying oil from Russia, in an effort to pressure Russia to end the war. Trump has accused India of helping Russia finance its war on Ukraine through oil purchases; India has said it needs cheap oil to meet the energy needs of its fast-growing economy. India called the additional tariffs 'unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable', pointing out that it was being punished for doing something — buying Russian oil at a discounted price — that other nations have done, although it didn't mention names. China is the largest buyer of Russian oil, and Turkey has also deepened its energy links with Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine, without incurring similar penalties. Analysts said Trump's pressure tactics could damage the long-standing ties between India and the US. 'We are better off together than apart,' said Atul Keshap, a retired US diplomat and president of the US-India Business Council. 'The partnership forged by our elected leaders over the past 25 years is worth preserving and has achieved considerable mutual prosperity and advanced our shared strategic interests.' It's difficult to quantify what exactly America would lose if its relationship with India cools. India is a valuable strategic partner for the US, acting as a counterweight to China. It is also important to many American companies, including Apple, which has shifted some manufacturing of its products to India from China. Ajay Srivastava, a former trade official at the Global Trade Research Initiative, a New Delhi-based think-tank, said the US action 'will push India to reconsider its strategic alignment, deepening ties with Russia, China, and many other countries'. India and the US, with Japan and Australia, are part of a diplomatic partnership called the Quad, set up largely to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region. India is planning to host the Quad Leaders' Summit later this year. Trump was expected to attend, although it's now unclear if he will. For India, the costs of a damaged relationship may prove to be higher. Trump's move puts Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bind. Russia is the source of 45% of its oil imports. If India stops buying Russian oil, accepting higher prices for consumers and domestic manufacturing, it would be politically damaging for Modi's Government. If it ignores Trump's threat and continues buying Russian oil, the hit to India's economy will be far costlier. The higher tariffs could cut India's more than US$86 billion in exports to the US by half, according to the Global Trade Research Initiative, an Indian research group. The US is India's biggest trading partner, and exports account for nearly 20% of India's economy. India ranks only 10th among American trade partners in goods. India has also come to value American backing for its bid to be recognised as a global superpower. Modi has touted his relationship with Trump, courting the US President during his first term in office and calling him a 'true friend'. But that friendship, as many American allies have learned, may mean little when Trump's own priorities are at stake. US President Donald Trump is open to meeting Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the White House said yesterday. Photo / Olga Maltseva, Brendan Smialowski, Frederick Florin / AFP In recent weeks, Trump announced that he had struck deals with Japan, South Korea and the European Union, but even after months of negotiation, India had not reached an agreement. India was reluctant to make concessions on politically sensitive sectors like dairy and agriculture. India also publicly denied Trump's repeated claims that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a brief, four-day conflict between the two neighbours in May. India has maintained that the ceasefire was negotiated bilaterally with Pakistan, and Indian leaders bristled at Trump's willingness to insert himself into that bitter rivalry. It is not yet clear whether the punitive tariffs Trump has threatened will ever take effect. In the executive order he issued, Trump said the tariffs would be implemented within a month, but he could modify the order if circumstances changed. The order included a provision that the US would look at other countries' purchases of Russian oil as well. So far, there is no indication that Trump intends to take a similar approach to China. Chinese and US officials are in the middle of sensitive negotiations about potential trade agreements after an initial round of retaliatory tariffs threatened to destabilise the global economy. With his tariff moves against India, Trump is keeping his eye on big strategic goals — a deal with China and keeping the pressure on Moscow before a potential meeting with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, which he disclosed yesterday. Far from being 'a dead economy', as Trump called it, India is the fastest-growing large economy in the world. But its place on the President's list of priorities may be much less certain. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Anupreeta Das Photograph by: Saumya Khandelwal ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
Big investment payouts even experts let get away
Photo: AFP / Spencer Platt / Getty Images If you've ever wished you put a few dollars into Bitcoin when it was changing hands for pocket change or snapped up Apple shares when they were selling for cents, you're not alone. Even investment experts have ones that got away. Here are some of the investments we regret missing out on. Hamilton Hindin Greene investment advisor Jeremy Sullivan said someone who had invested $10,000 in Amazon's IPO in 2007 would have just under $30 million now. They would have had to stick with it through some volatility along the way though, including through the 'Dot Com' crash, when its share price fell by more than 90 percent. Devon Funds Management retail head Greg Smith agreed Amazon could be a missed opportunity - it traded for US7c in May 1997, but shares are now more than US$220. Bitcoin has been the outperformer of the investment world recently. Chartered accountant and chief executive of Swyftx digital investment platform Jason Titman said, if someone had invested $36,500 in Bitcoin over the past decade - equivalent to $10 a day - they would now hold a portfolio worth about $2.8 million. Smith said he was in London in 2013, when Bitcoin was $1000. "A crypto fanatic told me to buy it, I hadn't even heard of it and didn't." Smith said he also regretted not buying A2 Milk shares, when they were 2c in 2004. The share price hit more than $20 in 2020 and is about $8.60 now. Smith said he also regretted missing out on Apple in the 1980s, when it regularly changed hands for less than US30c and is now more than US$210. Smith said Nvidia was up 66000 percent since its IPO in 1999 and up 1500 percent since 2020. In July, it became the world's first US$4 trillion company. The surge was driven by demand for its chips, which are used in AI. "There have been lofty expectations, but they've been delivering on that," Smith said in June. "They've ridden the generative AI boom and it's getting real demand." Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said not buying into Facebook in the early days was one of his regrets. You could buy shares for about US$20 in 2012 and they are worth more than US$770 now. "In hindsight, there's heaps I wish I bought," Olsen said. "Probably buying a property when I was a baby, that would have been my best investment, but there's also enough that I remember thinking about that had as much attention at the time about 'you should buy now' that I'm glad I never bought either - remember NFTs? "There's a range of products or options that were complete losers, and there were others that performed really well. That's the risk you'd have taken and why I don't really have any massive regrets. "I was happy with my risk tolerance at the time and still am." Kernel founder Dean Anderson said, rather than an investment he wished he had bought, there was one he should not have sold. "In my last year of university, 15 years ago, I bought a 1967 series 2 Land Rover. It was an absolute original, all the spare roofs, paperwork and just two owners - the army and then a retiree, who used it for his annual duck hunt. "I paid $1800 for the whole lot. While there was definitely a sense of 'what the hell did you buy that for' from dad, soon enough, he was out and about driving it. "It was an absolutely amazing vehicle, and responsible for many summer road trips and wine tours. Sold it a couple of years later, when it was hard to find somewhere to store it. "I made three times my investment on it, plus plenty of memories, but it would be 30 times that today - and who knows how many more memories." Property investment coach Steve Goodey said owning a big plot of land "just about anywhere" in Auckland 10 years ago would have made someone wealthy. New Zealand's median house price has increased from about $170,000 in 2000 to just under $800,000. As rules have changed, parcels of land that could be subdivided or house more properties have experienced significant increases in value. Between August last year and July this year, RocketLab shares increased from about US$5 to US$51. CoreLogic research head Nick Goodall said that benefited some members of his family - but not others. "We have a small Hatch account for our children, a way of teaching them about money," he said. "We said to the kids, 'What would you like to invest in?' "'You watch Disney, do you want to buy some shares in Disney? You're into sport, do you want to buy Nike?' "'You like rockets, do you want to buy RocketLab?' "This is very small scale, but we ended up buying some shares for our middle child, and there's been a 60 percent increase in three months or whatever. His sister's, like, 'I want some of that'. "In hindsight, it's anything that's seen strong growth in value over time. I like the idea of what has done well, but also sits morally with you." Koura founder Rupert Carlyon said he wished he had gone into the S&P500 ETF 20 years ago "and kept on doubling it". "A safe, low-risk investment that has done extremely well. "I simply wish I had known how easy investing could be much earlier." Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said he had some investments he regretted getting into, such as Ubco, which collapsed in January, but was recently saved . "I have many such stories, but that's my fun money - mainly for start-ups, some of which become big payoffs. "The savings I have are in diversified portfolios, because stock picking and timing the market aren't things I can do consistently. I think focussing on one or two that got away, which can of course make someone immensely rich, distracts from the wider story of what works, regular habitual savings and the power of compounding." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
21 hours ago
- NZ Herald
NZX steady as Eroad rallies on road user charge changes
'Of course, we have an earnings season starting next week, so you tend to see volumes a little lighter as people await the company announcements and guidance especially,' Sullivan said. 'US markets were positive, even though India has been hit with a higher tariff level than initially quoted. Our interest rates are buoying the market more than geopolitical instability and tariffs.' On the NZX, Eroad rallied by 26.42% today after the Government unveiled a raft of changes to the country's Road User Charges system in preparation for 3.5 million vehicles becoming liable for the charges. As has previously been signalled, the current Fuel Excise Duty is expected to be abolished in the coming years, with all vehicles moving to Road User Charges (RUCs). Eroad's share price lifted 42c to $2.01 after 3.1 million shares changed hands on turnover of $5.9m. 'Obviously they're seen as a potential frontrunner for being able to offer a solution in that area. Material uplift in volume and share price and their market cap would put them up as a NZX 50 constituent as well, so the potential to eventually be included in NZX indices.' Elsewhere, Radius Healthcare shares rose 3.90% to $0.40 on high volume of 10.4 million shares after it announced an upgrade to its projected underlying earnings before interest and tax. Sullivan said Radius doesn't seem to be able to put a foot wrong at the moment, noting its share price rose 22% in July, 22% in June and 25% in April. Chorus also had another positive day, with its share price lifting 1.21% or 11c to $9.20. Contact Energy, meanwhile, fell 0.76% to $9.10 after $11.1m in turnover was traded. US markets Wall Street stocks rose on Wednesday local time, with Apple and most other large tech companies rallying as markets largely shrugged off US President Donald Trump's latest tariff hikes. Apple piled on more than 5% after White House officials said the tech giant plans an additional US$100 billion ($168b) in capital spending in the United States. Amazon and Google parent Alphabet were among the other large tech names that also rose. 'By standing up and publicly announcing a domestic investment with President Trump, it reduces the likelihood of Trump imposing new tariff burdens on Apple,' said FHN Financial's Chris Low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.2% at 44,193.12. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 6,345.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2% to 21,169.42, less than 10 points from an all-time record. Trump ordered an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods. The levy, which is expected to come into force in three weeks, is due to New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. – Additional reporting AFP Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
