“I’ve been really impressed with the quality of what I’ve come back to be a part of.”
Wall’s journey into investment management began in civil engineering. He studied at the University of Canterbury and spent the first years of his career delivering roads, airports and other major projects.
“What I enjoyed about engineering was the ability to interact with multi-disciplinary teams and to see my effort result in a building or a structure or something that we could look back on,” he says.
“But I realised that is just a small piece of the puzzle. I thought, wouldn’t it be great to be involved in that whole lifecycle? Who had the idea? How did they get the money to build it?”
That curiosity took him into private infrastructure investing. Wall was a founding member of the infrastructure investments team at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, then a partner at United States-headquartered Federated Hermes.
He joined Lazard Asset Management in 2021 as head of sustainable private infrastructure and was most recently managing director and co-head of the firm’s quantitative and alternative investment management committee.
Through those roles he ran investment strategies for sovereign wealth funds, pension giants and insurance companies – the same pools of capital he is now tasked with attracting into New Zealand.
A two-way mandate
Wall is clear about Invest New Zealand’s mandate.
“We are the single co-ordinating entity for engaging with international capital on behalf of New Zealand,” he says. “Our focus is on working with international investors to find ways in which to improve and invest in the future productivity and growth in New Zealand businesses.”
That involves two-way engagement. The agency spends a lot of time with international capital providers, to understand where they want to invest, and where they are running into constraints.
“We are in a unique position in that we can take what the world is telling us, work with the Government to change constraints or create incentives for that capital to flow.
“We need to listen to where the large pools of capital want to invest. We have high quality businesses that have very attractive characteristics for investors in today’s world. We should use that position, this opportunity, go out and communicate that.”
Our focus is on working with international investors to find ways in which to improve and invest in the future productivity and growth in New Zealand businesses.
Robert Wall
When asked what international investors find difficult about doing business in New Zealand, Wall is candid that he is too early in the role to be definitive. But an opportunity he sees for further investment into New Zealand is that of scale.
“We have lots of high-quality businesses that are small in a global context. We want to be able to use capital and expertise that’s internationally available to unlock that growth potential.”
New Zealand’s distance to the investors Invest New Zealand is trying to attract does not concern him.
“Distance is less of an issue when you’re working in easy-to-move knowledge, telecommunications, and people skills – rather than commodities,” Wall says.
“The challenge as an international investor is in finding countries you can really trust and work with for the long term.”
Stable politics, attractive demographics and rule of law, he says, will always outweigh distance.
Priority sector focus
Wall is explicit that the agency cannot succeed without long-term clarity of focus.
“Not every dollar of capital has the same impact on an economy,” he says.
“A dollar of capital invested in a company or sector that has high productivity or high growth potential will allow us to address the economic challenges in the future.”
That has shaped a set of five priority sectors for the agency: private infrastructure; renewable energy; data centres and AI infrastructure; advanced manufacturing and processing facilities; and technologies including agritech, creativetech, medtech, fintech and spacetech.
Each meets Wall’s test of high productivity or growth potential. It is a deliberately narrow list, designed to give the agency focus rather than sectoral breadth.
Lessons from offshore
Cabinet has asked Invest New Zealand to study the Singapore Economic Development Board and IDA Ireland – both small-economy agencies with FDI track records New Zealand has yet to match. That work is ongoing.
“New Zealand has historically had a lower amount of international investment than other small economies,” Wall says. “We should look at comparable countries and how they’ve succeeded.” He cites Singapore, Denmark, Sweden and, to a degree, Greece and Italy.
Wall acknowledges the limits of direct replication but says there are opportunities for New Zealand to learn from other countries.
“New Zealand has an incredible diaspora. We are part of the Indo-Pacific. While we may not have the same scale of incentives, we can look to replicate some tools that similar-sized countries have used successfully.”
Attracting human and financial capital
The Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa is intended to attract investors who take an active role in helping companies access global knowledge networks, capital and markets. It is designed to generate higher business productivity and job growth.
Settings were refreshed in April last year, introducing two investment categories: Growth (higher-risk investments with a minimum $5 million investment over three years) and Balanced (mixed investments with a minimum of $10 million over five).
Uptake has been substantial. As of May, Immigration New Zealand had received 730 applications under the new settings, representing a potential total minimum investment of $4.26 billion.
Resident visas have been approved and granted to 288 applicants, with $1.69 billion of capital committed into the New Zealand economy.
For Wall, the visa is doing what it was designed to do – bringing into New Zealand both capital and the people behind it.
“The Active Investor Plus is an important part of what we do where it connects the human capital and financial capital that individuals can bring,” he says. “We have a really interesting group of people who have elected to commit their capital and time and want to be a part of New Zealand.”
The majority of AIP capital has so far flowed through Invest New Zealand-approved managed funds and bonds.
“Investments into managed funds are an active contributor to the New Zealand economy and growth,” Wall says. “They may run through a managed fund, but they’re still invested in New Zealand businesses.”
The United States is the single largest source of applicants, with Greater China making up the largest regional bloc.
“In a world with rising geopolitical and geoeconomic uncertainty, New Zealand continues to be an attractive destination for international capital and individuals,” Wall says.
A long-term project
Wall has spent his career watching capital move around the world, and says that in his experience, New Zealand does not have a hard job introducing itself.
“We should never underestimate the warmth with which people consider New Zealand – either because of their own personal experience or our position in the world stage,” he says. “If I look back over the past 20 years, the impact of New Zealand’s position geopolitically has always been present.”
For Invest New Zealand, that recognition of the country is the starting point. The job is to convert it into specific projects.
“Our role of matching investment capital with investment opportunity is not one done on a marketing basis. It’s done on a project-specific basis,” Wall says.
“We’re not an organisation that presents New Zealand at a high level, but one where we go and understand what the international investor is looking for.”
Invest New Zealand was stood up last July, with a board chaired by Rob Morrison confirmed late last year. Wall arrived in February. Visible results – by his own admission – are months and years away.
The challenge ahead is substantial. At the announcement of the Invest New Zealand board last December, Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay was blunt about the gap.
New Zealand’s stock of foreign direct investment, he said, sat at 37% of GDP against an OECD average of 53%, placing the country 27th of 38 OECD economies on stock and 31st on inflows.
“Chronically low levels of overseas investment have starved this country of capital for infrastructure and business,” McClay said. “Quite simply, we need more capital.”
Closing that gap is the challenge Wall and his team have been handed.
“We have to view this as a long-term project,” Wall says.
“I’m confident we are already seeing the benefit for New Zealand. I see that in some of the projects we’re working on and the impact we’re having with international investors.
“But there is a lot more to do. We’re still in the early innings of this game.”
Who’s on the Invest New Zealand board
Rob Morrison: chairman, an investment banker and corporate leader with a distinguished international career in finance, governance, and sustainability.
Carmel Fisher: deputy chairperson, who is a seasoned investment professional with more than 30 years’ experience in New Zealand’s investment industry.
David Tapsell: a respected legal and governance professional with a career spanning law, Māori economic development, and corporate leadership.
Richard Hedley: an experienced private markets investor and non-executive director with over 25 years’ experience in global investment markets.
Mary MacLeod: a seasoned financial services executive with over two decades of international experience in investment banking and corporate strategy.
Ross George: a private equity leader with more than three decades’ experience supporting New Zealand businesses and institutional investors.