Direct Capital successfully launched a $425m fund in February – just as the coronavirus pandemic started to impact New Zealand – capping it in just over seven weeks.

Māori direct investment fund Te Pūia Tāpapa has made its first investment, with the target company TR Group’s managing director “absolutely rapt” with its new partner.

New Zealand’s largest heavy vehicle rental and lease company TR Group has announced new cornerstone investments by Direct Capital, NZ Super Fund and iwi investment vehicle Te Pūia Tāpapa, with whom NZ Super Fund has a preferred investment partner relationship.

Collectively the three investors have acquired 31 percent of the business and join the founders, Managing Director Andrew Carpenter and the Carpenter family, to support TR Group’s growth in New Zealand and Australia.

Broader participation by New Zealanders, greater access to growth capital for New Zealand enterprises, and more choices for investors drive the recommendations in the Capital Markets 2029 report released today.

CFA New Zealand caught up with Ross George from Direct Capital after the Private Equity Masterclass panel discussion at the 2019 New Zealand Investment Conference: 'The Alternatives'

NZ Herald Capital Markets Report: Direct Capital’s Ross George is a pioneering veteran of the New Zealand private equity market. Now, 25 years after raising Direct Capital’s first fund, George is still going strong. He talked with Capital Markets about how he got started here as a 32-year-old, the dynamics of the market and some of his standout transactions.