Major Australian firm sees 'strong' public-private partnership opportunity in NZ

Thursday, 2 October 2025

A major Australian infrastructure firm says there is now “strong” opportunity in New Zealand after a few slow years.

Dexus executive manager for growth markets Nik Kemp has been in New Zealand to gauge investment potential and, in an interview with The Post, said his firm was in the early phases of bidding on new projects.

“Opportunities for the private sector generally just slowed up for the last few years, and then, probably over the last six to 12 months, it's started to increase again.

“It feels like that momentum has just started to come through.”

Dexus is an ASX-listed firm with a NZ$57 billion asset portfolio, and a NZ$12b infrastructure arm.

It invests in physical assets such as office buildings and shopping centres, and is a majority owner of New Zealand gas and electricity distribution company PowerCo, and is the largest shareholder in privately run Auckland South prison.

Dexus in 2023 acquired these assets from AMP Capital, as it did the recently completed Archives NZ building in Wellington, which the firm will lease to the government agency for at least 25 years.

“Within that contract, we have an obligation to maintain, obviously, standards, temperature, humidity, all those sorts of things within the building,” he said.

“We're taking real risks with the way we have to maintain and look after the building … that's not too different from most other buildings or infrastructure projects that we own.

“But the thing with this one is … you really need to look after the material that sits within the building. It's so important that we get it right.”

While Kemp would not disclose what projects Dexus was considering bids on, he said it had interest opportunities in the Government’s healthcare sector investments, in toll roads and rail infrastructure, in schools and correctional facilities.

“What we're really looking for is the opportunity to partner with the Government, which hasn't really been the case for a few years now.”

He did not attribute a prior lack of enthusiasm for public-private partnerships to a specific government, though political settings were relevant, as were the specific needs and fiscal constraints.

“So often governments will say, ‘Here's a pipeline’, and that pipeline just never happens,” he said.

“When a government turns that pipeline off or stops for a period of two or three years, then it means your organisations need to … really dial down the focus.

“Conversely, if the government brings too many projects to market at once, it's almost impossible for us to swallow and to resource.”

Asked if a change of Government in 2026 was a concern, Kemp said Dexus was hearing that “both sides of politics will look to deliver what’s being committed” so this was no issue.

The Infrastructure Commission has been keeping track of the nationwide “pipeline” of infrastructure projects and, as of June, counted $125.1b in projects under way and in planning.

Kemp said there was plenty of capacity in the New Zealand system to deliver those projects, though “just like Australia” his firm would like more tier-one, or large-scale, building companies in the market.

Productivity was possibly slightly better in New Zealand also, he said. Australia had more industrial relations challenges.