Three new fellowships - James Miller (2nd from left), Kim Martin (centre) and Mark Edwards (2nd from right) with Sarah Minhinnick (CE NZGIF - left) and Will Goodwin (NZ Super Fund - right).
People from all corners of the capital markets assembled in Auckland last Thursday for the annual Institute of Finance Professionals in NZ (Infinz) awards. Fifteen awards were handed out at a gala dinner attended by 750 guests. The awards aim to raise standards and reward innovation in the industry.
Here are the 15 award winners:
Winner: Infratil
Getting a big transaction over the line in these uncertain times is no mean feat.
Infratil, with the aid of joint lead managers and underwriters Barrenjoey, UBS and Forsyth Barr, raised $750 million through a placement and $185m from an enlarged retail offer to part-fund its purchase of 49.95 per cent of One NZ [formerly Vodafone NZ], thereby gaining full ownership.
The balance of the $1.8 billion deal was met from Infratil’s own cash reserves and debt facilities.
The judges said that in a difficult year for equity capital markets, the deal was an exception because it supported growth.
“After maintaining client confidentiality, the team managed the challenge of communicating deal logic and value while also quickly achieving funding certainty,” the judges said.
They noted the transaction attracted interest from local and offshore markets.
The judges also said the capital raise broadened the issuer’s register and enhanced the New Zealand market – “while at the same time being as fair as possible to all existing shareholders including enabling retail shareholders, where practicable, to maintain their proportionate ownership”.
The retail offer received strong support from eligible shareholders, with Infratil receiving applications totalling $320m.
Infratil accepted an additional $85m of subscriptions, bringing the total amount raised under the retail offer to $185m.
PwC NZ Equity Market Transaction of the Year is awarded to both the client and adviser for the best equity market transaction of the year as nominated by the industry and determined by an expert judging panel.
The judging criteria included the extent to which the transaction meets the needs of both the client and investors and the extent to which it develops the capital markets.
The One NZ acquisition was one of many - spanning the four key areas of renewable energy, digital infrastructure, healthcare and airports - completed by Infratil over the years.
Its other investments include a 51 per cent stake in Manawa Energy – New Zealand’s fifth-largest electricity company.
It has 37.1 per cent of Longroad Energy, a Boston-headquartered renewable energy developer focused on the development, ownership, operation and asset management of wind and solar energy projects throughout the US.
The company has 40 per cent of Galileo - a pan-European, multi-technology, renewable energy developer, owner and operator headquartered in Zurich and 95 per cent of Gurīn Energy - a Singapore-headquartered renewable energy developer.
In addition, Infratil has 48 per cent in Canberra-based CDC - the largest privately owned and operated data centre business across Australia and New Zealand.
It also has a 66 per cent holding in Wellington Airport.
Winner: Todd Hunter, CEO, Turners Automotive Group
Four years of record profits and a strong company culture has seen Turners Automative chief executive Todd Hunter take out the leadership title at the annual Institute of Financial Professionals New Zealand (Infinz) Awards.
The car reseller announced its fourth record annual profit this week of $48 million, with an increased dividend of $0.25 per share.
The company has achieved 11 per cent compound annual growth in its dividend payout to shareholders since 2015.
“I feel they’ve been quite brave, and possibly quite groundbreaking, giving this award to a used car dealer,” Hunter joked in his Johnson Partners leadership award acceptance speech to the 750-person crowd at the Infinz Awards gala dinner in Auckland last Thursday evening.
“Although, I’m sure you all know that Turners is clearly much more than just cars, cars, cars.”
In an update to the market ahead of its latest annual result, Hunter said the domestic used car market and the Turners’ business “continued to demonstrate strong resilience, despite a broader economy under pressure”.
The Infinz Johnson Partners Leadership Award assessed a company’s key financial performance over the past five years, as well as the company executive’s leadership qualities, company culture and engagement with employees, customers and the community.
Only 14 companies and chief executives satisfied the criteria and only four achieved positive total shareholder returns over the period.
“One leader stood out,” the Infinz judges M.J. Daly, Will Goodwin, Grainne Trout and Simon Allen wrote.
“Not only for the business’s successful financial performance but also for the transformational approach to continuous change and diversification of the business.”
“This leader is not afraid to embrace complexity and looks out for the right things to grow a strong culture internally operating the business upon the formula that a great employee experience gives the best chance of providing a great customer experience which combines to deliver great shareholder value.”
Turners entered the NZX Top 50 index in late 2023 - a level of maturity that feels far removed from the business that merged with finance company Dorchester in 2013.
“We make in six weeks what that combined organisation made in a year,” Hunter said in his speech.
Turners now had world-leading levels of employee engagement and 50 per cent of its team owning shares in the company, he added.
“It’s been a remarkable transformation over the past decade.
“And we’ve got Tina from Turners, what’s not to like?”
Hunter said the award was not about him, but rather a reflection of the 700 people who worked for Turners.
He thanked chairman Grant Baker for his contribution to the company’s long-term success.
“For having the entrepreneurial spirit, vision, and just a teensy bit of vengeance just to make that happen.”
Previous winners of the leadership award included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare chief executive Lewis Gradon and (now former) Skellerup chief executive David Mair.
Winner: Milford Asset Management
Milford Asset Management has again taken out the Chapman Tripp diversified growth fund manager of the year at the INFINZ awards.
It is the third Milford has taken the crown, having won the former NZ Equity Fund Manager Award seven times in the preceding 12 years. The finalists were determined through an initial quantitative analysis of past performance undertaken by Melville Jessup Weaver (MJW) and then the shortlisted managers were interviewed by an expert panel joining MJW, with an assessment based on qualitative criteria.
The finalists presented on the qualitative aspects and came with strong absolute performance and strong performance relative to market indices and peers.
‘’At the same time, investment markets were tumultuous with several key decisions impacting performance results in the short-term,’’ judges said.
The decision this year was ‘’finely balanced,’’ with medium-term performance playing a key role.
The Milford KiwiSaver Active Growth Fund returned 13.7 per cent after fees for the year ended December 31, 2023 and has returned 10.4 per cent a year during the preceding decade and 11.7 per cent a year since inception in October 2007.
Jonathan Windust has managed the fund since 2017.
He said the award was a tribute to Milford’s commitment to active management and having such a high-quality, hard-working 39-strong investment team.
The MJW Survey shows the Milford fund ranked number one for net performance over three, five and 10-year periods with a level of volatility lower than the median for five and 10-year periods.
The award was previously separate equities fund manager of the year and debt fund manager of the year but was changed to recognise the growth of KiwiSaver and the importance of a diversified portfolio across all asset classes.
Winner: Crown Infrastructure Partners provision of a $400m facility to Wellington City Council for a new sludge minimisation facility
Joint Financial Advisors: KPMG, Mafic Partners
Joint Lead Arranger: ACC
Joint Lead Arranger and Sustainability Coordinators: ANZ, CBA, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank
This award focuses on debt transactions valued over $100 million, other than bond deals. The judging criteria includes the degree to which the client’s objectives were met, the deal’s complexity, innovation and the importance of the transaction to the wider economy and society.
The Infinz judges said the standout features of the winning transaction were its size, tenor, custom-made structure and management of funding and interest rate risk. “This innovative and well-structured deal is an excellent place setter for New Zealand’s quest for affordable, sustainable and intergenerational infrastructure funding.”
Wellington City Council was the second council to use the funding model, which was enabled by the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act 2020 (IFF Act).
The new facility, to be built at Moa Point, will be a critical piece of infrastructure for Wellington City. It will reduce the volume of sludge produced by the city by up to 80 per cent per year, cater for population growth and development, and allow Wellington City Council to dramatically reduce waste to landfill and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon last August said securing the funding was great news for the city’s zero-waste strategy.
“This massive infrastructure project is the first facility of its type in New Zealand, and will reduce the carbon emissions from the current treatment and processing process, plus contribute further to our 2030 goal of reducing general waste going to the landfill by 50 per cent,” Foon said.
The use of the IFF Act has enabled $400m to be raised for the construction of the SMF by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by Crown Infrastructure Partners. The finance raised will stay off Wellington City Council’s balance sheet, providing flexibility to fund other infrastructure and community amenity projects within existing borrowing limits.
The finance raised by the SPV will be repaid through a levy on all properties (excluding protected Māori land) across the city, reflecting that all residents and businesses will benefit from the SMF. However, properties that will be directly connected to the facility will pay a higher levy than properties that will not have their wastewater treated by the facility.
Winner: Eastland Group
Financial Advisor: Forsyth Barr
The $260 million sale of an electricity network, which returned at least $90m back to the East Coast community and freed up capital to invest in renewable energy, has won an award for its social impact.
Firm Forsyth Barr advised Eastland Group in the divestment of its Eastland Network lines business to Taranaki-based Firstgas and its Australian-owner Igneo Infrastructure Partners in late 2022.
“It was highly valuable, generated low cashflow and was facing into a long capex investment cycle to support further electrification uptake as consumers and businesses transitioned away from fossil fuels.” Forsyth Barr co-head of investment banking James Dykes said of the deal, which it won in a competitive pitch process in 2021.
“The sale also allowed capital to be released to Eastland Group’s shareholder, Trust Tairāwhiti, for community initiatives and for Eastland Group to commit further capital and resources towards its renewable generation business, Eastland Generation.”
That was the kicker for the judges of the MinterEllisonRuddWatts M&A transaction of the year award at the 2024 Institute of Financial Professionals in New Zealand (Infinz) awards.
“While not the largest merger and acquisition deal, it was just as complex and challenging as some larger deals, and was hugely impactful for the numerous stakeholders involved.” The judges wrote.
“The release of capital to fund a regional renewable energy development pipeline and to support community and societal objectives in the region were standout features of this transaction.”
Eligibility for the award required the deal to relate to a New Zealand-headquartered corporate, or New Zealand assets or businesses.
The judging criteria included the success of the transaction in meeting the strategic and financial goals established by the corporation concerned.
Dykes said it went through a competitive pitch process to land the deal for Forsyth Barr.
“The sale process was very competitive given how few of these assets come to market and a view that other network owners are likely to face similar challenges to Eastland Group and this will result in more consolidation in the market in the near future.” He told the Herald.
“We enjoyed working with Eastland Group as sole M&A advisor throughout this process and the role we played in delivering a superb outcome for Eastland Group and the Tairāwhiti region.”
Trust Tairāwhiti chairman David Battin said earlier this month that the Eastland Group team had built the company’s value to over $1 billion, resulting in $182 million in dividends going back to the community through Trust Tairāwhiti.
“Eastland Group is one of the region’s greatest success stories, and trustees are incredibly proud of it.” He said announcing Eastland chief executive Matt Todd’s departure in early May.
The 100 per cent acquisition was conditional on Overseas Investment Office approval.
Eastland Network is the regulated electricity lines company for Gisborne, Wairoa and the East Coast serving nearly 26,000 customers across 12,000 square kilometres.
Taranaki-based Firstgas already had a gas distribution network in Gisborne.
To be eligible for this award, either the target or acquirer must have a capitalisation of less than $250 million. Judges looked for the complexity of the transaction and the challenges overcome.
Winner: DB Breweries’ acquisition of Kāpura and merger with Joylab
Lead Financial Adviser to DB: Forsyth Barr
Lead Financial Adviser to Kāpura: Cameron Partners
Last year’s merger of Auckland-based Joylab and Wellington’s Kāpura created one of the country’s largest hospitality groups with DB Breweries at the centre of the transaction.
The deal required Heineken subsidiary DB to acquire the remaining minority shareholding in Joylab (the brewer already held 60 per cent) as well as all of the shares in Kāpura.
The merger created a new entity, Star Hospitality Group, the majority of which is owned by DB Breweries alongside the Kāpura founders. Star Hospitality Group now boasts a portfolio of more than 50 bars and restaurants and a 1600-strong workforce across Auckland and Wellington.
Forsyth Barr acted as financial advisor to DB Breweries while Cameron Partners, a global alliance partner of Rothschild & Co, advised Kāpura on the financial aspects of the transaction.
When the deal was announced in April 2023, Kāpura, chief executive Jamie Williams said Star Hospitality would help the group grow and give “a level of stability at a time of economic uncertainty ... regardless of what’s around the corner”.
DB managing director Matthew Wilson said the decision to acquire Kāpura came after the Wellington-based hospitality group was looking for funding.
“Kāpura was running a capital raising process so there was a unique opportunity to combine these businesses with their complementary geographic coverage and model,” Wilson said.
The Infinz judges said the scale, complexity, significance, and innovation of the transaction swung it for them.
“The overall transaction was contingent upon concurrent completion of several intermediary steps involving distinct ownership groups with their own complex shareholding arrangements and objectives,” the judges remarked.
“The transaction ultimately created the largest hospitality group in New Zealand.”
Winner: Kate Archer of Westpac
This award aims to recognise a young professional from within New Zealand’s financial services ecosystem. The judging panel looked for leadership, performance in their professional role and contribution to the wider industry and community.
As a director in Westpac New Zealand’s sustainable finance team, Archer is responsible for providing sustainable finance solutions for Westpac’s business customers to help them achieve their sustainability goals.
Before joining Westpac in 2019, she worked for the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark in Amsterdam, with the responsibility to develop and execute the firm’s assessment of sustainability performance for property and infrastructure companies and funds. Archer has held a range of banking roles across commercial/corporate banking and project finance at ASB Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Mitsui Banking Corporation (London).
Accepting her award, she said she was proud to have played a role in the evolution of New Zealand’s sustainable finance market.
“But the reality is that this is just the start. There’s a whole lot more work needed in a transformation of the wider market that I’m really excited to be a part of in the future.”
The Infinz judges said Archer was able to clearly articulate her leadership style and communicate how she created alignment and built team collaboration with her impact-driven, outcome-based focus approach.
This award, determined by an expert judging panel, acknowledges an individual Māori finance professional who has contributed to the successful economic development of Māori and the wider community.
Kahukura comes from a Māori whakatauki – “Mā te kahukura, ka rere te manu”. This saying means “adorn the bird with feathers, so that it may fly”, the kahukura are the feathers. It is used to describe those who have achieved great things (the feathers are the great things). And because of that, they are flying.
Winner: Hinerangi Raumati, MNZM
After starting out as an accountant, Raumati went on to hold executive roles with Tainui Group Holdings and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.
More recently her work has focused mostly on supporting Māori economic development, including work with various Māori Incorporations and post-settlement entities.
Her governance career includes directorships with iwi organisations, listed companies, and Crown and Council-Controlled entities, among them the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Genesis Energy. This year she was appointed to the Board of the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, the manager of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.
Raumati was the first woman elected to the Parininihi ki Waitōtara board, and the first Waikato-Tainui iwi member to be appointed chair of Tainui Group Holdings.
The Infinz judging panel for this award said Raumati is a well-known and respected leader in Maori economic and financial growth and development.
“Clear, articulate and on point, the winner has been involved at a leadership level in significant transactions and developments in recent years, including innovative examples in sustainability and iwi asset management models.
“Bringing together best practices whilst at the same time capturing the Māori worldview. The winner has had a broad and impactful career ranging from helping to rebuild many different balance sheets in the Māori economy through to supporting iwi to develop social procurement strategies.”
Infinz inducted two new fellows and a new distinguished fellow in this year’s annual celebration of the finance industry.
Kim Martin, the head of NZ Debt Management, and Mark Edwards, head of institutional solutions at BNZ and a former Infinz chair, were inducted as fellows.
James Miller, current Infinz fellow and senior non-executive director, was presented with the ninth distinguished fellowship award.
All three have strived to help the industry embrace greater diversity and play a meaningful role for the wider public good.
Martin, who holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, joined the Treasury in June 2017, with 18 years of private sector experience as a market strategist and financial analyst. Prior to joining the Treasury, she was the senior market strategist at the Bank of New Zealand, specialising in interest rates and foreign exchange. Before that, she spent almost a decade in London, primarily working for JP Morgan Investment Bank, where she held the role of global equity strategist.
Edwards runs the financial markets sales team for the BNZ Institutional Markets Sales business. He has worked in the NZ financial markets for 19 years after graduating from the University of Waikato with an honours degree in Management Studies (Finance).
In his time in the markets, Edwards has worked for a range of institutions in NZ and Australia, including domestic trading banks, investment banks, and the treasury departments of Fletcher Building and Fonterra Cooperative.
His experience covers trading, sales and corporate risk management in both interest rate and foreign exchange products and brings the benefit of understanding client needs from his time as a corporate dealer.
Edwards said he was honoured and humbled to have been named a fellow. “I have been fortunate to see Infinz grow, diversify and flourish through some very tough times and that’s purely down to the individuals involved.”
Miller is a household name in the New Zealand capital markets scene with his work as an equities analyst at ABN Amro and then Craigs Investment Partners well recognised. Specialising in airport and utility companies, Miller played a leading role in the valuation of and global pre-marketing of Auckland International Airport, Contact Energy and Vector’s initial public offers.
He has since become an experienced company director, sitting as chair of Channel Infrastructure and director of Mercury and Vista. He was appointed to the NZX Board in 2010 and became chair in 2015. Miller has previously held board positions with Accident Compensation Corporation, Auckland International Airport and the Financial Markets Authority.
Accepting the award, Miller quipped that the last time he was on this stage he was presenting to Deutsche Bank and started speaking German, which he thought was some random joke. “Sorry about that.”
He said he felt very privileged to be in the finance industry and he laid down a challenge to the audience on the importance of giving back.
“It’s the little things that you all do in your day job that matter. If you can lean into the NZX or the capital markets, all those little things that you may never expect that make money … then the challenge from my perspective to you is you need to give back to the industry that has given so much for you.”
This award aims to recognise all debt transactions between $10m and $100m other than bond issues. Judging criteria included the degree to which the client’s objectives were met, the complexity of the deal, innovation and the importance of the transaction to the wider economy and its impact on society.
Winner: Beca Group’s employee share funding solution with an $80m syndicated revolving facility
Arrangers: Westpac, ASB
Debt advisor: Cube Credit
The judges were impressed with the bespoke syndicated employee share funding solution allowing the corporate client to secure employee commitment to its future growth aspirations. “The transaction incorporated quasi-securitisation elements, a new software platform and several special purpose entities across multiple jurisdictions.”
This award seeks to recognise and acknowledge excellence in analytical research that adds insight into New Zealand’s financial and capital markets.
Winner: “New Zealand Long-Term Equity Returns and Their Determinants” Authored by Mary Ma, La Trobe University, Ben Marshall, Massey University, Nhut (Nick) H. Nguyen, Auckland University of Technology, and Nuttawat Visaltanachoti, Massey University
The judges found the winning paper to be an interesting, and well-constructed paper with thorough underlying analysis. It grapples with the less often tackled issue of very long-term asset returns, and produces insights that have wide potential applications in financial markets.
Determined by an expert judging panel, the corporate ESG Award aims to recognise an organisation which has proactively encouraged and nurtured diversity, mental health and working conditions among staff and suppliers, and sustainability within their own organisations and amongst the wider ecosystem.
Winner: Westpac
The judging panel said Westpac impressed with its presentation, led by chief executive Catherine McGrath. “The CEO has built a formidable team and given them the mandate to work toward ambitious targets and positions.”
Westpac’s initiatives include supporting Māori scholars with tertiary study and promoting procurement with diverse suppliers.
To win this award, an investor relations team has to get the most votes from a group made up of equity analysts working for the country’s full-service sharebroking firms, and the larger NZ-based fund managers that are active investors in New Zealand equities. To be in to win, a company must also be listed on the NZX, be a member of the S&P/NZX50 index as of December 31, 2023, and have its headquarters in this country.
Winner: Infratil
Fund managers and sharebroker analysts noted the regular and frequent access to management and senior executives of investee companies and access to senior management and the board.
“Most companies largely focus on institutional investors, but the winner stands out in also ensuring that they are engaging well with their retail shareholders, and recognise the value in doing that.
“That includes thinking about how they can communicate more regularly in a more concise and engaging way, leveraging different channels (including video/podcasts, site visits, investor days etc) and taking a market leading approach in their sustainability reporting.”
This award is for the corporate treasury team that can demonstrate improvement or adaptation of its treasury practices within the changing external marketplace.
Winner: NZ Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA)
The judges noted the strong innovation and best practice demonstrated by the winning treasury team. LGFA developed and successfully executed a range of innovative initiatives to respond to recent strategic challenges. This included the establishment of a world-first bond lending facility.
“The winner has clearly met the judging criteria of impact on the environment and wider society through its development and successful issuance of its world-first Sustainable Financing Bond, where the use of proceeds is applied to co-mingled asset pools of Green, Social and Sustainability loans and Climate Action loans to New Zealand Local Authorities.”
Nominated by the industry and determined by an expert judging panel, this award recognises the debt issue that best meets the needs of the borrower and investors as well as the extent to which it develops the capital markets.
The issuer was: UDC Finance, $650m mixed pool ABS Transaction
Arranger, Joint Lead Manager, Swap counterparty: BNZ
Joint Lead Manager, Swap Counterparty: ANZ
Joint Lead Manager: Societe Generale
The judges noted the large deal size and increasing presence the winner had as a regular issuer in the NZ Debt Capital Markets. The issuer was recognised as a standout in the growing securitisation sector and also for helping expand the investor base of NZ securitised assets.
This prize aims to recognise an organisation which has introduced either new or enhanced services that create value not only for customers, but also for the wider economy. These benefits include things such as better outcomes for customers, markets, the economy and/or society.
Winner: Hnry Limited
Judges said Hnry has developed technology to overcome a difficult element of self employment or small business ownership to the point that they process 1 per cent of the total NZ tax take.
“The winner has impacted an incredible number of small businesses with their ‘user first’ focused proposition over a period of many years as they have scaled toward becoming a significant part of the financial ecosystem.”
Written by: Duncan Bridgeman, Madison Reidy, Jamie Gray and Grant Bradley
Reserve Bank says leaving banks to their own devices hasn't worked.