The opportunity
New Zealand horticulture is a major export earner, forecast at NZ$9.5 billion for the year to June 2026, with kiwifruit leading it at NZ$4.8 billion. A record NZ$3.56 billion was returned to New Zealand growers for the 2025 season. Getting in is normally expensive. A Zespri SunGold licence cleared $684,000 a hectare at the May 2026 auction, up from $561,000 in 2025, and a developed orchard costs around $1 million a hectare all in.
Northland is the exception. Until recently it lacked the reliable water that horticulture needs, so the land stayed in grazing. Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust has now built three reservoirs across two schemes, funded by more than $100 million of government and community capital, and reticulation out to the land is underway. Farmland in the catchment still trades at pasture prices, between $30,000 and $50,000 a hectare, because the conversion has not happened yet. Developed into producing orchard, comparable land is worth $1.2 to $1.3 million a hectare.
There is a working precedent next door. Kerikeri was opened up the same way in the 1980s, and its land now sells for around $125,000 a hectare with water. The Mid North scheme shares the same soils. The Fund acquires at the start of that conversion, then develops and operates the land as it comes into production.
Pasture to horticulture, the same soil.
What the Fund does
Public investment built the water infrastructure. The Fund is the private capital that turns it into production. It acquires land in the catchment, converts it from grazing to high-value horticulture, and operates it through partners who are part of the Fund rather than hired by it.
Horticulture is the scope, and kiwifruit is the lead. The strategy centres on Zespri kiwifruit across its SunGold, Green and RubyRed varieties, Red19 and Red80, with complementary cropping and other horticulture supporting income through the development years.
Suitable land in the catchment, bought at pasture value, directly or with partners.
From grazing into high-value horticulture, led by Zespri kiwifruit.
Run day to day by specialist orchard, packing and cropping partners.
Two sources of return: rising operating income, and the land-value uplift as conversion completes.
Governance and partners
The Fund is governed by three of New Zealand's most experienced directors, including Hon. Murray McCully, who chairs the water trust behind the schemes. Their backgrounds span government, listed companies and major public institutions.
Chair of Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust, which built the water storage for the Kaipara and Mid North schemes. He also chairs Whangarei District Holdings and the Board of the New Zealand School Property Agency, the new agency managing the Government’s $33 billion school property portfolio. A Member of Parliament for 30 years and a Minister of the Crown for sixteen and a half, including Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2017. A barrister of the High Court of New Zealand.
Among New Zealand’s most experienced professional directors. Recently appointed a director of the Financial Markets Authority, having been chair of NZX RegCo, New Zealand’s stock exchange regulator, until December 2025. Former chair of KiwiRail and New Zealand Public Trust, and deputy chair of the Accident Compensation Corporation, where he chaired the investment committee responsible for over $50 billion. A Fellow of the Society of Chartered Accountants.
A senior Northland business identity with over 40 years of governance, commercial and investment experience. Chair of NorthTec, the new Northland polytechnic, and chair of the Whangārei District Council’s Knowledge Hub project. Managing director of Hansen Products NZ until 2019, a leading Australasian manufacturer exporting to over 18 countries, and still a shareholder and director today. A chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Directors.
The operating partners are part of the Fund, not contractors to it, so their interests sit with investors'. Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust brings its knowledge of the land and the consenting process. Kainui Pack & Cool, a family business near Kerikeri running around 100 hectares of kiwifruit, manages the full production cycle. Supa Feeds runs the complementary cropping that carries income through the development years. Māori landowners and communities share in both the governance and the returns.
Residence pathway
New Zealand's Active Investor Plus visa was built to attract experienced offshore investors who contribute to the economy, and the Fund qualifies. The Fund invests wholly in New Zealand horticulture, an approved primary-sector category, and approval opens a route to permanent residence for the investor, their partner and dependent children under 24. The investment case stands on its own. The residence pathway is a real and valuable benefit alongside it.
Request the Information Memorandum
The full Information Memorandum is available to wholesale investors under Schedule 1 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. The minimum investment is NZ$5 million. AML documentation and wholesale investor certification are required before any application can be accepted.