Simplicity secures stake in boat company Stabicraft Marine

KiwiSaver provider Simplicity has announced its private equity fund has bought into Invercargill based Stabicraft Marine.

It has acquired 35.9 percent of the fishing and adventure boat company after more than two years of discussion.

It is the seventh acquisition for the fund. Simplicity's other interests include concrete foundation builder Reliable Foundations and revenue software manager DataTorque.

Managing director Sam Stubbs said KiwiSaver money should be invested in great New Zealand companies and Stabicraft fits that bill.

"Effectively we operate as a minority, passive investor so what we say is, look you know what you're doing, you know what's best for the company, you just get on and do it. We'll have one board member as an observer, but we won't be telling you what to do, and we're holding this for the very long term.

"If you think about KiwiSaver money it's a very long term investment. Our members will be invested in an iconic New Zealand company, this company really produces the Land Rover of boats, and their money will assist this company in expanding internationally."

Stabicraft founder Paul Adams remains the major shareholder and director.

"We're excited to have a New Zealand owned private equity shareholder like Simplicity onboard to continue the Stabicraft legacy. We're really looking forward to building on our success," he said in a statement.

Stubbs said Simplicity's private equity fund will invest in many more private, unlisted companies in New Zealand.

"What you've started to notice is KiwiSaver funds are now starting to get involved in the private equity market...and as KiwiSaver grows and as the government encourages this we would expect to see more of this happening.

"This is the seventh of what we hope will be many involving the investment of a reasonably large amount of money over time but of course each one of those individual investments will be relatively small," he said.