Hideaki Fukutake from Still, an organisation made up of niche companies, collaborations and cultural projects nurtured in a singular ecosystem. Photo / Dean Purcell
New Zealand’s isolation is one of its strengths, says Hideaki Fukutake, head of Auckland-based investment firm Still.
It is quieter, slower paced and there is less noise here - and New Zealand’s people have a unique perspective because of that, he says.
Fukutake hit headlines last week when Still purchased the iconic World of Wearable Art (WoW) event.
It was cause for a rare turn in the spotlight for the man and the company, which has quietly been building momentum in the local economy for the past two years.
Still has an ambitious aim of acquiring 100 businesses in the next decade and running them with a focus on the next 100 years.
It is an investment group with an unconventional approach - prioritising cultural connection and stability over short-term profit.
Still’s portfolio already includes Kings Plant Barn, Consult Recruitment, infrastructure firm Shape, design firm DDMMYY and historic Queenstown hotel Hulbert House.
Still is a family-owned business run from Auckland’s waterfront.
Fukutake’s Grandfather Tetsuhiko and father Soichiro founded and oversaw the growth of the Japanese corporate Bennesse corporation into one of the world’s largest educational service providers - at one point owning the Berlitz language schools.
Soichiro Fukutake, a billionaire (on the Forbes rich-list Japanese top 50) took up residence in New Zealand in 2009 drawn here initially by his passion for sailing and flying.
Hideaki followed shortly after with his young family and he has watched his children grow up here as Kiwi kids.
Now Auckland-based, his father’s retirement sees him managing the Fukutake family investments.
He returns to Japan regularly to represent the family on the Benesse board but has decided to set up Still to focus on New Zealand-based opportunities.
Given the means to be based anywhere in the world, perhaps the big question is: why here?
Hideaki says he feels both a cultural and geographic connection to New Zealand.
“New Zealand is the best country to experiment and try new things because it is physically isolated. Right now everyone in the world is connected. This can breed a similarity of thought around the world,” he says.
“We need to shut down some of that noise. It’s very difficult to do so physical isolation is very important.”
Still, as the name suggests, is happy to move at a gentle pace.
“New Zealand is one of the best countries if you want to create culture,” he says.
It is a young country, English speaking with a small population but plenty of land and resources.
It’s isolated and the pace is relatively slow, he says. That makes it a good place from which to “see the world from a different viewpoint”.
Still general manager Paul Cameron says the organisation basically exists to support people, art, nature and culture.
“At Still we look for business opportunities which will have a cultural impact for the future of New Zealand,” he says.
“Hideaki has this saying: create a new way of seeing. That means new perspectives or new ways of viewing problems [as] opportunities.”
Hideaki was brought up to focus on caring for at least three generations and that’s why everything we do has a 100-year view, Cameron says.
Of course, even with wealthy backers, businesses have to make money.
“For anything to survive for the long term it has to be financially sustainable,” Cameron says.
“So we might start with a business or organisation that might not be profitable but we’ll look at ways to help that become financially sustainable.”
The organisation also runs Still Investments - a diverse management portfolio with equities, bonds, property, private equity and a little bit of direct venture capital.
The returns of that are what the Still 100 lives on in the short term, providing breathing space for its companies to grow, Cameron says.
“The major difference between Still and other private equity is the return equation is different. Private equity looks to return funds in 8-10 years whereas our return is 100 years.”
“Often we don’t take a dollar out of the businesses. We live it in so they can grow.”
“We have luxury accommodation in Queenstown called Hulbert House, that’s actually an art restoration project. It’s an 1880s building that was in deep need of renovations so that it could be enjoyed by future generations,” Cameron says.
“We have Kings Plant Barn, a retail plant store. We need more nature in our lives, it is good for our souls, we want to help create an urban-green movement for New Zealand, in our cities homes and communities.
“We have Consult recruitment. We believe the future of work is one of the most important conversations to be having right now and rather than being on the sidelines we want to be in the middle of that.”
Probably the best example of long-term thinking is infrastructure, he says.
“If we make poor infrastructure choices it impacts on communities. So we decided to start a business so we started Shape Group.”
The firm has several core investment criteria.
“The first one is about being long-term,” Cameron says.
“The second is we look for things that are authentic and have good history and indisputable mastery and quality in everything they do.”
Still also looks for investments that are physical in nature.
“So we prefer people, places, objects and communities rather than pure digital,” he says.
“The last one is that we like things to have a sense of beauty.”
Art is central to Fukutake’s outlook.
Hideaki’s father is famous in the art world for his work transforming the former industrial island of Naoshima (and surrounding islands) into a centre of the Japanese art world.
The former environmental wastelands are now home to six art museums, 40 art galleries and host a major international art festival - the Setouchi Triennale.
Hideaki sits on the board of that event which has hosted more than a million people every three years.
It’s not surprising that the World of Wearable Art event appealed to him.
“When we look at something like WoW it matches everything that matters to us and Hideaki understands it, he understands the delicacies around creative properties - you don’t rush in and make changes,” Cameron says.
Fukutake says he felt a strong connection to the event which had aspects reminding him of traditional Japanese practices like Kabuki dance or the colourful tea ceremonies.
One of the things that impressed Still was what a professionally run business it is, Cameron says.
“Everything we do, we have a very light touch, we provide a governance role and we try and get out of the way of management. We give them the tools and whatever [they] need to get on with the job.”
“With WoW that light touch is even more important,” he says. “They are a very good team. They just had a sell-out show over three weeks with 60,000 people, 40,000 of those came from out of town. That is unbelievable. We will really take a back seat.”
In time there may be opportunities for growth “but a lot of that will come from the team rather than from us,” he says. “It will remain in Wellington.”
Over the next decade, there will be many more deals.
The 100 investments for 100 years is a really ambitious target, says Cameron, and not all of them will have to be big businesses. Some will likely be ventures they start themselves.
“They could be profit or non-profit,” he says. “Being small and niche and high quality is as important as being very large.”
Despite the long horizons, the short-term economic cycle is still a concern, Cameron says.
“With more than 500 staff employed across the group financial stability is important.”
But Hideaki Fukutake’s philosophy is calm, patient and one that involves being prepared to take time.
“We are open to new opportunities,” says Cameron. “Not just for taking over but there are several projects we are going to do from scratch. We hope to be able to announce more in a few months.”
So, watch this space.
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