I've been working with searchers in New Zealand (and to a much lesser extent Australia) for the last couple of years as we discuss how to get traction in the market for this approach.

In short, the market has zero awareness of search funds, so there is an educational challenge. It is also capital short especially for mid market and early stage investments, so there is an investment gap too.

The business owners will probably be accepting of search funds being a form of PE, so I think that is fine as long as you can show funds backing up any offer. Also multiples are more reasonable than the US.

To date, no searcher has got "search" capital or "acquisition" capital. There is one searcher I know of that has essentially self funded his search and acquisition (from the US, Kiwi wife). Good investment so far I believe.

Australia is having some success, perhaps listen to my podcast (search for my name + "Search Funds in Australasia with Alexander Simmons") but it is still early days.

I would make contact with the international search fund of funds and pitch to them first. I'm not sure you can assume local funding. Something I'd like to change...but its a long term project.

Good luck Shaun! Happy to discuss and meet (no Covid19, thank god). I'm in Wellington.

Bruce, know of any firms backing independent sponsors in NZ?

Thanks for your insights Bruce. I actually found your blog and podcast a couple of weeks back. I listened to the episode with Alexander, too. Good content. It helped advance my thinking in the NZ context, to be sure.

My preliminary research suggests a self-funded search might be most viable. I have a decent NZ network that I think I could then activate towards an acquisition fund, but that's just an assumption right now. Which leads to the original question of the general appetite of US-based investors making FDI in NZ. It seems that this is unheard of to date, but it would be good to get a signal to validate this either way.

Try these guys, they're active on this site https://secondsquared.space/

^[redacted]‌ - You can find investors based on your Search criteria, including geography, under the Directory. Here is the direct link: www.searchfunder.com/searchfund/mysearchfund

Tagging a few investors that might be interested in backing your traditional searchfund in New Zealand: ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌, ^[redacted]‌,

Thanks Bruce. Happy to chat Shaun. [redacted]

Hi Shaun, likewise happy to have a chat. feel free to contact directly on [redacted]