24 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Quayside Holdings: 30th Anniversary Reflecting on 30 years of growth Sue Russell Quayside Holdings Staff and Executive Team In a “lightbulb moment”, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council separated its investment arm from the political arena, creating Quayside Holdings (‘Quayside’) in 1991. Now, celebrating 30 years, as a purely commercial investment entity, Quayside is significantly impacting the development of the region while returning substantial funds to the Council, to pass on to residents in the form of social, cultural and environmental gains. When he first took up the role, CEO Scott Hamilton remembers that 100% of the revenue that Quayside accrued through its investment portfolio was returned to the Council. Over time a significant shift occurred, with the Council embracing the long-term benefits that would come to the region by enabling Quayside to create an endowment fund. “We needed to create a financial asset that would grow alongside, but outside the political sphere, enabling investment in a multitude of strategically worthwhile projects to benefit the region. We’re there as a commercial entity to ground and support a social entity,” Scott explains. There have been some notable gains for the province. In 2017, Quayside established a partnership with Bay of Plenty-based Te Tumu Paeroa (the Māori Trustee) to create Huakiwi Services Limited Partnership (‘Huakiwi’). hobec.co.nz Helping to build a thriving community We are proud to provide legal services to Quayside Holdings The $40 million investment enabled Huakiwi to develop kiwifruit orchards on Māori land in the Bay of Plenty. More than 80 hectares of less than productive land from Matakana Island to Te Kaha has been transformed into kiwifruit businesses which will bring lasting benefits to owners, their whānau and their communities. “This model will allow transfer of full ownership of the orchards to tangata whenua within a generation and it’s exactly the type of highly beneficial project Quayside likes to be involved in.” Scott describes the Bay of Plenty as a thriving region, with plenty of promise ahead for more development and consequential benefits flowing to land-owners and to rate-payers alike. “For investors, such as ourselves, there are considerable opportunities in industrial land, in infrastructure and in commercial development.” A big part of Quayside’s success comes down to what Scott says is an ‘outstanding team’ who are dedicated to what they do and the value it creates for the community. “It’s a part of what ‘scale’ affords but there are always challenges.” The core focus of the business is to deliver a commercial return. This has taken Quayside into investments outside the region, such as a new diagnostic business based in Dunedin (Techion) as well as spreading its portfolio to include share equities and international equities. “I like to describe us as a perpetual engine that feeds Council every year.” Asked how Covid impacted Scott says Quayside was fortunate that it battened down the hatches just prior to Covid aggressively hitting the markets, having divested discretionary stocks that would be hit hard by the pandemic. “We also realised the world was not going to stop. There were some sectors we thought might have slowed more than they had. The subsequent speed of the bounce-back from Covid has created postive investment opportunities, but you have to be picky.” The Port of Tauranga, in which Quayside is the majority shareholder, proved to be incredibly resilient. Scott says the Port has done a superb job of navigating the challenges of Covid. Looking ahead Scott says there are many burgeoning opportunities for investment of the nature Quayside is interested in. “We’re interested in the Rangiuru area, where Quayside is lead developer of the Rangiuru Business Park, bringing new land to market and expansion of development along the east/west corridor. “There is currently a shortage of good industrial land in the Western Bay of Plenty.” The completion of Te Uru Rākau (NZ Forest Service) campus in Rotorua, another investment of Quayside, will also bring lasting gains to the industry and region. Reflecting on just how all this positivity and consequential benefits have flowed, Scott says Quayside’s success depended on two critical factors: a willing Council and a supportive Board. “We have always been blessed with very strong commercial Board members. “ They see Quayside not just as a Council organisation but a commercial entity. “Over my tenure we have built that trust and confidence in the Quayside model.” “For investors, such as ourselves, there are considerable opportunities in industrial land, in infrastructure and in commercial development.”
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