NZ Super Fund hunts fourth partner for sustainable finance

That would bring the number of external partners in sustainable fund management to four following US VC company Fifth Wall in 2021, and UK-based Generation Investment and US-based Wellington Management last year.

NZSF head of external investments and partnerships Del Hart says, the move to co-investing has come about because of the need to invest at scale as the NZSF increases in size (currently $59.64 billion).

“In terms of our sustainable transition opportunities, we need to invest externally with managers whom we can form very long term partnerships with and can increase capital allocation over time. That's a high level goal in terms of what we're trying to achieve with these external partnerships. We have set up initial mandates allocating capital for funds and greater investment through co-investment, which is quite new. We need to invest at scale as our fund gets larger.”

Hart says with a small amount of risk budget left, the NZSF will add one more partner this year.