Michael Lang now controls more than 75% of NZ Funds Management
The mystery within New Zealand Funds Management’s accounts appears to have been resolved ahead of deadline with a company associated with chief executive Michael Lang taking a controlling interest in the company’s parent.
Friday, July 31st 2026, 6:12AM
by Jenny Ruth
NZFunds Capital Group now owns nearly 64.4% of Investment Group Holdings, which is NZ Funds’s parent company, Companies Office records show.
Notes to NZ Fund’s financial statements say that the change in ownership occurred through “a series of transactions” with Lang’s company becoming the major shareholder on October 31 last year. Richard James is Lang’s co-shareholder in NZFunds Capital.
Lang and James also jointly own another 11.3% of Investment Group Holdings, taking their holdings to nearly 75.7%.
“These transactions supported ongoing continuity in leadership, governance and NZ Fund’s position as a principal-led organisation,” the note says.
In September last year, Good Returns reported that Gerald Siddall and Russell Tills, a former executive, owned 37.74% of Investment Group Holdings while Lang and James owned 37.75% in two parcels of 26.46% and 11.29% and that a trustee for executives owned the remainder of the shares.
A year before that, Companies Office records had shown that Lang and Siddall each owned 36.7% of the parent company.
Siddal and Tills now own 8.1% of Investment Group Holdings with trustees owning the remaining shares.
The deadline refers to a mysterious note to the accounts awarding a unnamed executive a “long-term incentive reward (LTI)” should therebe a sale of either the company’s shares or the parent’s voting shares between Oct 1, 2023 and Sept 30, 2026.
Last year’s accounts showed the value of that grant had been $338,000 but it has now lapsed because “certain conditions required for the LTI to vest were not satisfied.”
The note says a net credit of $274,625 was recognised in employee benefits expense for the year ended March 31 compared with last year’s expense of $42,250.
Good Returns has previously commented that it had looked like the shareholders had been trying to realise value out of NZ Funds and that was certainly the case in the latest year with dividends of $13.9 million paid were nearly 13 times larger than the $1.075 million paid the previous year – last years’ note on post-balance date events had noted two dividends had been paid.
This year, the note on subsequent events shows a dividend of $1.325 million, or $1.32 per share, was paid on June 24.
NZ Funds enjoyed another good year, notwithstanding that the dividends paid far exceed its net profit, which rose 17.3% to nearly $6.5 million in the year ended March 31.
Revenue, which mostly comes from funds management, was up 10.1% to nearly $40.2 million while expenses rose only 7.9% to $30.9 million.
Staff-related costs and benefits were up 7.8% to $17.2 million while $36.2 million of the revenue came from funds management, which was up 10% on the previous year.
Financial advice revenue was up nearly 8% to $2.8 million while fund administration revenue was up 23.8% to $1.1 million.
Key management personnel were paid $7.3 million in the latest year, up from $6.7 million the previous year.
Principal retirement benefits in the year ended March were $379,000, up from $329,000 the previous year with such benefits owned in future easing to $672,000 from $796,000.
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