Mergermarket is pleased to present “Expanding Horizons: Offshore perspectives on investment into New Zealand during the Covid-19 recovery”, published in association with Simpson Grierson.

This report explores feedback from offshore investors who have invested in New Zealand (NZ) in the last 5 years, looking at how Covid-19 has changed their plans and sentiment towards the NZ market, and their views on market trends, challenges, and opportunity sectors.

The findings show that while Covid-19 has delayed many offshore investors’ M&A plans for NZ, overall investor sentiment has remained positive. NZ’s ability to control Covid-19 has enabled the domestic economy to operate more or less normally, and M&A activity is expected to increase significantly following the eventual safe reopening of travel borders (either partially or fully).  

Key findings include:         

• Strong M&A intentions: 60% of respondents intend to invest in New Zealand in the next two years and another 29% are considering an investment within the next 12 months.
• Covid has caused delays: 48% of respondents are delaying investments here and 23% say their pre-Covid intended investments have been suspended or abandoned.
• Reopening the borders: 60% say a partial reopening of NZ’s borders would make them more likely to invest and 75% say a full border reopening would likewise entice them to invest.
• Opportunity sectors: 71% say technology, media and telecommunications is NZ’s most attractive sector, followed by pharma, biotech and medical (60%), and consumer 51%).
• Top fundamentals: Respondents say NZ’s top fundamentals include: less competition for targets, political and regulatory stability, access to new and advanced tech, and fair valuations.