New-age NZ commercial real estate fund manager, Jasper, has breached the $100 million threshold with its second Auckland industrial property purchase in the space of a week.
Last week Jasper added a $14 million South Auckland industrial property to its portfolio just a few days after splashing out $40 million on an East Tamaki asset.
The two new acquisitions are held in the group’s new Value-Add wholesale fund. Jasper has launched two funds since establishment in 2019, the Industrial Income Plus and Core strategies, with four underlying properties.
Touted as technological bridge between real estate investment trusts and commercial property syndications, Jasper offers online-only applications and reporting with plans afoot to build a secondary trading platform for liquidity purposes.
“However, there is no guarantee that this will occur or that you will be able to exit your investments on the secondary market or at what price an exit (if any) will be achieved,” the group’s website says. “Jasper’s secondary market is yet to be submitted for regulatory approval.”
Founded by Mark Hurley, the total Jasper property holdings now amount to about $103 million.
Hurley said in 2019: “Our vision is to create a future where anyone can invest in the world’s best commercial real estate from as little as $1000.”
According to a spokesperson, Jasper to date has only offered wholesale funds but “has plans to get our retail licence in the near term”.
“Whilst we have only done wholesale schemes to date, our last offer (Jasper Industrial Income Plus Fund) used Covenant Trustees Limited as the fund supervisor to ensure we adhere to best practice,” the spokesperson said. “Our investors know a third party is ensuring we adhere to our investment strategies and objectives.”
Jasper also uses legal firm MinterEllisonRuddWatts.
Meanwhile, another tech-led investment business, the Australian online US share platform Stake, confirmed a new NZ-based marketing hire last week.
The appointment coincided with a A$40 million capital injection for Stake from two private equity firms – the US-based Tiger Global and the Hong Kong firm DST Global.
Matt Leibowitz, Stake founder, said the capital-raising was the firm’s first dabble with external investors.
As reported earlier this month, Leibowitz was in NZ recently, partly on a recruitment drive.
He said the group had already filled one NZ marketing role with more sales and operations positions under consideration.
“We’re only just beginning in NZ,” Leibowitz said.
The platform has signed up about 350,000 investors globally, including 40,000 in NZ, following its launch in 2019. Stake, like NZ competitors, Hatch and Sharesies uses the same broker, DriveWealth, to handle transactions in the US.
Leibowitz said the new capital, which gives the two private equity firms a combined minority stake in Stake, would accelerate growth “with a real focus on New Zealand”.
“Having external shareholder capital is a vote of confidence in Stake but it also puts an obligation on us to do great things with it,” he said.
The Sydney-headquartered business currently employs 67 but staff numbers should grow to 100 by year-end, Leibowitz said.