NEW Zealand’s newest and one of its largest primary industry investment vehicles – the MyFarm KiwiFruit Fund – has launched a $10 million offer of new units to wholesale investors.

Fund chairman David Jensen, pictured, said the $190 million open-ended fund was formed earlier this month with the amalgamation of 11 limited partnerships that owned 13 Bay of Plenty and four Northland SunGoldTM kiwifruit properties and shares in the grower-owned Zespri.

They include an Awakeri orchard.

“$190 million is the value of the total assets of the fund prior to the capital raise – it includes the 17 properties and the associated Zespri shares,” he said.

The fund is seeking $10 million to buy more shares in Zespri, reduce debt and assist some of the former investors in the underlying properties exit their holdings.

“The new units are being offered to wholesale investors at $1 per unit – representing a share of $1 of the net asset value of the fund plus the fund formation costs – with a minimum investment of $20,000,” Mr Jensen said.

“The units will be tradeable on the Syndex platform while the MyFarm KiwiFruit Fund intends to facilitate a quarterly auction of units.”

Mr Jensen said the properties had just over 155 canopy hectares licensed with SunGoldTM kiwifruit and “in the 2024 season produced more than two million trays of SunGoldTM fruit from a mix of developed and developing orchards”.

“In line with the fund’s preferred operating model, 14 of the 17 orchards are leased to experienced third party orchard and post-harvest operators with variable rentals which allow the fund to share profits with them,” he said.

“The MyFarm Kiwifruit Fund offers wholesale investors a diversified investment in one of New Zealand’s most successful primary export industries.”

The fund owned a broad portfolio of properties across two of New Zealand’s major kiwifruit growing regions.

“It benefits from multiple income streams, including any future returns paid on Zespri shares, which have been strong in recent years,” Mr Jensen said.

The fund is targeting cash distributions of 7.5 percent per annum, after fees but prior to tax, and a further capital growth of 2.5 percent a year, taking the target total return to 10 percent a year from year two of the fund.

Two thirds of the targeted cash returns and most of the capital growth is expected to come from the SunGoldTM orchard business, with the remainder of the targeted returns coming from Zespri dividends.

“The size of the fund, its regional diversification – which significantly mitigates the risks associated with variations in kiwifruit growing conditions across the country – and the access it offers to Zespri shares make the fund attractive to a broad range of investors, including institutions looking to gain exposure to the sector,” Mr Jensen said.

“This offer is not available to, and not suitable for, retail investors.”

Mr Jensen is the former chairman of 10 of the partnerships that have amalgamated into the fund.

He is a kiwifruit grower and dairy farmer, a director of integrated kiwifruit producer EastPack and the Lincoln University Council.

He is joined on the fund board by independent directors Sally Gardiner and Bridget Coates alongside MyFarm appointed directors Paul Richardson and Andrew Watters.