New Zealand’s largest heavy vehicle rental and lease company TR Group (www.trgroup.co.nz) has announced new cornerstone investments by Direct Capital, NZ Super Fund and iwi investment vehicle Te Pūia Tāpapa, with whom NZ Super Fund has a preferred investment partner relationship.

Collectively the three investors have acquired 31 percent of the business and join the founders, Managing Director Andrew Carpenter and the Carpenter family, to support TR Group’s growth in New Zealand and Australia.

TR Group was founded in 1992 by the Carpenter family and now serves over 1,300 customers with a fleet of more than 6,500 vehicles from 14 branches throughout NZ and Australia. It is proud to employ over 200 dedicated staff members and is headquartered in Auckland.

At the core of its service to customers, TR Group offers experience, expertise and enthusiasm specifically related to trucks and trailers. This creates a customer experience focused on providing the best possible vehicles for the work required and ongoing support to optimise vehicle and fleet performance throughout their contracted lives. This support includes guaranteed vehicle availability (uptime) through rental fleet back up, flexible arrangements to reflect clients’ changing work patterns, specialised management of service and maintenance issues, processes to comply with and optimise health and safety, continuous driver training and vehicle monitoring, and regular fleet reporting packages.

The Company’s trans-Tasman position and successful history of growth were key features that attracted Direct Capital to the investment. “We are impressed by TR Group’s track record of growth, the strength of its brand, market position, management team and company culture” said Direct Capital’s Hugh Cotterill.  “We look forward to working with Andrew and his team and supporting TR Group’s growth in both New Zealand and Australia.”

NZ Super Fund Head of External Investments and Partnerships Del Hart says, “We continue to seek out and assess opportunities to invest the NZ Super Fund back into New Zealand. Our decision to co-invest in TR Group alongside Direct Capital represents long-term confidence in both the local economy and in a well-established company with a strong track record of performance.”

The Carpenter family will remain the majority owner of TR Group with Hugh Cotterill joining the board on behalf of the new investors who acquired their stake from CHAMP Ventures.  Andrew Carpenter continues to operate the business as Managing Director alongside his experienced senior leadership team.

Andrew welcomed the new investors, saying, “The new investment is a long term one and will contribute significantly to the success of TR Group. Securing these new shareholders is a great outcome for the business and we are very pleased with it. We look forward to working with them as TR Group looks to capitalise on a growing market share for leasing in New Zealand, and expands into Australia, which is from our perspective an untapped market.”

The NZ Super Fund and Te Pūia Tāpapa investments in TR Group will be managed by Direct Capital.

About Direct Capital

Direct Capital was established in 1994 and is New Zealand’s largest private equity firm having raised $1.6 billion in capital for investment into private companies. This investment is being completed in its fifth fund, Direct Capital V, which raised $375 million in 2016 from institutional investors including NZ Super Fund, ACC and the Government Superannuation Fund, along with pension and endowment funds, community trusts and iwi groups.

Direct Capital has partnered some of New Zealand’s best-known and most successful businesses, including the now-NZX-listed Ryman Healthcare, Scales Corporation and New Zealand King Salmon; Bayleys Corporation, Debit Success, Hiway Group, NZ Pharmaceuticals, Perpetual Guardian, Beca, AS Colour, Caci and GoBus.

About NZ Super

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund invests money on behalf of the New Zealand Government to help pay for the increased cost of universal pension entitlements in the future. By doing this the Fund adds to Crown wealth, improves the ability of future Governments to pay for universal pensions, and ultimately reduces the tax burden on future New Zealanders.

A long-term, growth-oriented investor, the Fund has around NZ$45 billion in assets, including $6 billion invested in New Zealand.

The Fund is managed by a Crown entity, the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation.

About Te Pūia Tāpapa

The Te Pūia Tāpapa Investment Fund is made up of 26 Iwi and Māori entities.  Its investors represent diversity of scale and geography comprising Iwi and Māori entities located in Te Tau Ihu (Nelson-Marlborough), lower and central North Island, Taranaki, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hauraki, Northland, Auckland and Wharekauri (Chatham Islands).

The Te Pūia Tāpapa investment approach reflects the Māori long term world view, with generational investment periods of 15-20 years. Te Pūia Tāpapa is a preferred partner of NZ Super Fund.