Thinking About Capital?

Direct Capital invests capital into New Zealand and Australian private companies. We have a track record of success investing with great managers in companies and being a catalyst for change. We partner with business owners who are thinking about growing their business or looking at ownership changes. More on Thinking about capital….

Since 1994 we’ve invested in 40 private companies. We invest capital to assist business owners to:

  • Fund growth
  • Fund acquisitions
  • Fund a company through to an IPO
  • Fund a change of ownership
News
Hiway Group Limited acquires SAT CIVIL
Hiway Group, through its Hiway Stabilizers Australia Pty Limited subsidiary, today announced that it had completed the 100% acquisition of SAT Civil Constructions Pty Limited, Queensland’s leading provider of specialist road stabilisation services. More >

Ben Powles, General Manager at Fishpond speaks to Andrew Patterson from Interest.co.nz
Australasia’s largest online retailer triples its turnover in just three years and now derives 80% of its business from across the Tasman. More >

The New Zealand Farmers Weekly - Scales Corporation 100 years celebration.
It started as a farmer protest at the end of the world and now is celebrating 100 years of supplying customers, many of them at the other end of the world. More >

NZ firm's breakthrough trialled in US
A New Zealand company's breakthrough is to be trialled in the United States as a potential treatment for people suffering a rare neuromuscular disorder. More >
Sign up for our Directions Newsletter Here


Partners in Business
We believe that being a shareholder in a private company requires genuine partnership between the business owner, management and investor. It’s a partnership that works irrespective of shareholding percentage. And it's more than a simple financial transaction. It’s about having common goals and a desire to create significant wealth for shareholders. More on partners in business...
What can we do?

We invest in companies that are privately owned, have a profitable track record, a professional management team, and a competitive approach.

  • We generally invest equity of between $10m - $60m
  • These companies will generally have annual revenues of $30m - $200m
  • We will invest in both minority or majority shareholdings
  • We are flexible in the way we invest and work with business owners
Our Style

The common perception of what’s become known collectively as private equity is that all investors have the same style and business model. But the reality is very different.

Some investors follow a “leverage model”, relying on debt to produce financial returns. This can be successful over short periods of the economic cycle but it doesn’t work forever. Some investors are “control” focussed but that only works if you’re also running the company. 

Our returns come from investing in growth creating permanent value. We invest and become partners with owners and management running good companies and we act the same whether we are a 20% shareholder or an 80% shareholder.