Spotlight on capital partnerships: KKR

Over the last 25 years, Oyster Property Group has worked with both local and international capital partners to fund growth and innovation in the New Zealand property market – sometimes more than either partner thought possible.

Since 2017 we’ve proudly partnered with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a leading global investment firm, to deliver a number of projects to market including the Central Park multi-use precinct in Auckland, and The Green, its award-winning food and beverage precinct.

We caught up with Brandon Carter, Director at KKR, to talk about what we’ve been able to achieve together so far.

What is the benefit to KKR entering a capital partnership with an organisation like Oyster?

Understanding the nuances of a market is so important – we make sure we partner with local experts in the markets where we have investments to ensure that we have that insight. Having people on the ground also gives confidence to our investment committees and our investors that the right amount of attention is being given to an investment.

A ‘fly in, fly out’ approach to investment in New Zealand doesn’t work – you need that on the ground, day-to-day attention, and we’re assured of that by our partnership with Oyster.

Why Oyster?

We like to partner with best-in-class operators in the markets that we invest in. Oyster stands out as having strong commercial property expertise and a strong track record on investments across a number of different criteria.

They’re also intimately involved in the investments we undertake together – for this investment in particular, Central Park in Ellerslie, Oyster has an asset manager who spends most of his week out at the asset. It’s the little things like being able to have conversations directly with tenants that make a huge difference to an investment.

While we are focused on returns, we’re also focused on doing business with people who we trust. The team is easy to work with; we find ourselves aligned on the way we look at things and the way we want to work together.

What have KKR and Oyster been able to achieve together so far?

The number of things we’ve achieved together has been quite remarkable, and key to these is the flexibility in our business plan. There is a significant difference between what we underwrote and what has ended up happening at our asset, and this flexibility to pivot when opportunities arise and keep thinking about incremental value adds is critically important. An example is the addition of The Green food and beverage precinct to Central Park – an award-winning public space that has transformed the asset.

Even today, five years into the investment, we’re still making those decisions constantly, and finding the next thing we can do to really drive value. I’m proud of us as a team for doing that.

For more articles and updates, download the February 2023 Oyster Update Newsletter.