From ingenuity to profit: New Zealand has much to offer and much to add for international investors.

Gary Langford, Director, Investment New Zealand

New Zealand provides cost-effective and competitive advantages that can directly benefit the overall profitability of UK companies. These advantages include a smart populace, an efficient, market-oriented and stable economy, a deregulated business environment, a highly developed infrastructure and transparent business systems.

Its proximity and special economic relationship with Australia makes New Zealand an excellent location for exporting into that market. The country also has strong links with Asia Pacific markets, and the recent Singapore/New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership agreement eliminates tariffs on goods traded between the two countries.

An early start
New Zealand is the first country to start business operations each day, and is thus able to work on projects while the rest of the world sleeps. Combining an advantageous time zone with a population used to flexible working hours, New Zealand is the ideal location for businesses with a global focus.

The country offers investors developed industries, exciting opportunities, a reputation for ingenuity and originality of thinking, and a cost-competitive, skilled and productive workforce.

In addition to these business advantages, New Zealand is a wonderful place to live – consistently rating among the best in the world – with a clean, healthy environment, low population density, superb climate and varied outdoor lifestyle offerings. It also boasts excellent education, health care, transport systems and affordable housing.

Welcoming investment

Proximity to Australia and Asia provides access to huge markets

New Zealand welcomes investment from international companies. The country’s macro-economic environment provides investors with a transparent and stable platform for long-term business. Technology and training grants are available to both local and foreign-owned companies. There are no restrictions on the level of equity a foreign investor may hold in high-technology ventures. Research and development costs are 100% tax deductible. Proposals for investments that have a foreign shareholding of more than 25% or a value above £14m (NZ$50m) require approval by the Overseas Investment Commission, but this is a quick and user-friendly process.

The UK – a valued partner
Many UK businesses have already benefited from investment opportunities in New Zealand. For the year ended March 2001, the UK was the fourth largest source of direct investment stock in New Zealand with a total of £1.9bn (using an exchange rate of £1 to NZ$3.547), behind Australia (£4.86bn), the Netherlands (£1.99bn) and the US (£1.97bn). Total foreign direct investment stock into New Zealand for the year ended March 2001 was £13.9bn.

Information, communications and technology

New Zealand’s high-tech industry is one of the country’s fastest-growing export areas. The telecommunications sector excels in niche network and mobile products, while also producing world-class networking, PABX, radio and switching technologies. New Zealand’s electronics sector spans industrial, agricultural, defence and medical industries, while the software sector’s key strengths include niche business applications, health IT, security control software, digital media, and wireless technology.

New Zealand companies have achieved export success by targeting lucrative niche markets where flexibility, ingenuity and practical ability are valued above high-volume manufacturing. Strong emerging markets for New Zealand exporters in the high-tech sector are the European Union and East Asia, leading to opportunities for partnerships within these regions.

New Zealand offers an environment that helps companies to develop and maintain a cutting-edge position in high-tech related niches. Its research institutions are world class and support commercial development. Universities are receptive to working together with the private sector to provide graduate and postgraduate programmes that respond to the research and development needs of high-technology companies establishing operations.

New Zealand is now one of the most wired-per-capita countries in the world, with advanced national fibre and wireless networks. Satellite and trans-oceanic cables provide excellent global links. The latest cable, Southern Cross, linking New Zealand directly to Australia and the United States, provides a 120-gigabits-per-second (Gbs) link, soon to be upgraded to 240Gbs and eventually to 400Gbs. New Zealand also boasts one of the highest rates of personal computer ownership per capita, supporting the reputation of its population as early adopters of technology.

This country’s early-deregulated telecommunications infrastructure is regarded as among the most sophisticated in the world, providing test-bed conditions and call centre facilities for a host of large overseas-based multinationals. UK company iTouch recently purchased New Zealand-based Holliday Group, which has been a dominant provider of mobile business solutions and one of Palm’s top-100 application developers. Holliday has provided iTouch with world-beating technology and the expertise needed to develop a strong foothold in today’s corporate market for mobile business computing solutions. EMS Global was established in the UK by New Zealand company EMS Ltd to promote its network-security products in Europe. After installing the security system on European networks, network monitoring and help-desk support are provided by operators in New Zealand.

Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals

Genesis Research and Development Corporation is a NZ biotech leader

New Zealand’s geographic isolation and strict border controls make it an ideal environment for biotechnology research and development. Its relatively disease-free animal health status means it is a premier location for producing pharmaceuticals using transgenic animals. It also offers high-quality and cost-competitive government and university research facilities, and a science community with strong international links around the world. Biological sciences are a particular strength in the tertiary education sector.

In 2001 New Zealand was the first country in the world to hold a Royal Commission to investigate issues surrounding genetic modification. The outcome of this process, which involved far-reaching consultation, was a positive one for the biotechnology industry, allowing more opportunities for transgenic field trials, albeit in a strictly regulated and carefully monitored environment.

Links with the UK have continued to grow in this sector. New Zealand company Genesis Research and Development Corporation formed a partnership with UK firm SR Pharma in 2001 to further develop pharmaceutical treatments for eczema. AgResearch, and its commercial arm Celentis, is a New Zealand firm working in the field of animal transgenics, and has links with UK company PPL to explore production of recombinant protein for human diseases. In 2001 AgResearch produced calves carrying a gene with potential use in the treatment of cystic fibrosis and has also isolated the gene responsible for producing twins in sheep. Uniservices, the commercial arm of Auckland University, has established a number of UK links including EPTTCO Ltd, working with activator drugs for cancer treatment. Protemix, an exciting new company in the field of diabetes treatment, has developed strong UK research links with Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Wood processing
New Zealand is very well positioned for a major increase in investment in the wood processing sector – one of its most important export industries. Investment New Zealand commissioned a major study in 2001, carried out by Jaakko Pöyry, one of the world’s leading forest industry consulting firms, which provides a compelling business case for new and existing wood processing investors.

Surplus wood available in New Zealand will increase to 18m cubic metres by 2010, providing huge opportunities for added-value processing and export of products such as MDF, lumber and engineered wood products. International investment will be critical in maximising these opportunities.

The Jaakko Pöyry study reviewed the current and emerging export markets for wood-based products, and identified New Zealand’s key competitive factors in this industry as being the availability of wood, the versatility of the pine timber, its cost competitiveness internationally, and the high levels of certification of forests to globally-recognised environmental standards.

Film and television

Welcome to Middle Earth! The NZ film industry has been boosted by the ‘Rings’ trilogy Pic: New Line Cinema

In 2001 New Zealand became the home of Middle Earth, as The Lord of the Rings mania spread across the globe. New Zealand is an adventurous country, with a unique culture and spectacular landscape. This, coupled with the ingenuity and innovative attitude of New Zealanders, made director Peter Jackson’s job of persuading New Line Cinema to not only shoot but also produce the Tolkien trilogy here an easier one.

The diversity and accessibility of New Zealand’s scenery, together with strong government support for the film industry, are increasingly making this country a first choice for overseas film and television production. Film New Zealand, funded by the Government, works to attract foreign investment in this sector and support investors once they are based here.

As well as stunning and varied locations (it has been described as “the world in one country”), New Zealand also provides a very strong production environment, which is highly competitive and creative by international standards. An example of the state-of-the-art communications technology developed here for The Lord of the Rings was the ability to shoot scenes in remote locations simultaneously, while Peter Jackson directed them all from his central studio in Wellington. Weta Workshop showcased typical Kiwi ingenuity and creativeness, combined with technological innovation, in its stunning special effects created for the film trilogy.

Advanced manufacturing
New Zealand has also developed a specialised cluster of skills and competencies in advanced manufacturing. International manufacturers and investors benefit from the flexibility to handle specialist production runs, and to retool quickly.

Marine technology
In 2002, teams from eight countries around the world, including GBR Challenge from the UK, begin competing for the America’s Cup in Auckland’s marine playground – the Hauraki Gulf. As current defender of the Cup, New Zealand’s high-profile leadership on the water has been echoed on land in the world-class work of boat builders, sail and spar makers, hardware, electronics, technology, software and systems specialists.

The industry’s reputation for quality craftsmanship, innovation, leading-edge technology and design, and competitive pricing has attracted a stream of international customers. They are increasingly turning to New Zealand for refits and new builds of all types and sizes. New Zealand is the sixth largest builder of super yachts in the world and has pioneered the application of high-technology composite construction materials in the marine industry. There are opportunities for UK firms to work with New Zealand companies in targeting marine opportunities, following in the footsteps of Oyster, who partnered with McDell Marine in New Zealand in 2001 to sell custom-built sailing yachts.

Find out more
Investment New Zealand is the division of Trade New Zealand responsible for promoting investment opportunities and facilitating inward investment from overseas organisations. Our extended trade and investment network, in partnership with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, comprises almost 50 offices around the globe. Addresses and links to these offices can be found on our website.

Our professional team will match your investment ambitions with what’s on offer in New Zealand and provide a complete investment service package, free of charge.

To find out more about Investment New Zealand and the opportunities and services we can present to international investors, contact the Director’s office:
Investment New Zealand
Telephone: +64 9 366 4768
Email: invest@tradenz.govt.nz
Website: www.investnewzealand.govt.nz