By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media
Auckland, New Zealand-based Erskine Owen, an independent property investment firm, has launched a new wholesale property fund while simultaneously unveiling its first asset. The Erskine Owen Veritas Property Fund is targeting a $1 billion commercial real estate portfolio by 2030, focused on export-driven agri-infrastructure. To kick things off, the fund has invested in a high-tech coolstore in Hawke’s Bay operated by leading apple exporter Mr Apple, a subsidiary of NZX-listed Scales Corporation. This influential facility has disrupted the way apples are prepared for export in New Zealand.
The facility, known as the Groome Place coolstore, is a purpose-built cold storage and logistics hub designed to maintain optimal conditions for handling, storing and exporting fresh produce. The approximately 75,000-square-foot facility, valued at NZ $24 million, stands as the fund’s cornerstone investment, secured under a 20-year triple-net lease to Mr Apple.
Erskine Owen Director Alan Henderson explained that the fund’s strategy targets core industrial logistics assets backed by long-term leases, particularly those supporting farmland-to-export supply chains. “We chose this site as the fund’s foundation because it ticks all the boxes,” Henderson said. “It is a core industrial logistics facility, under a long-term lease to a globally competitive exporter, located in a region that is vital to New Zealand’s agri-economy.”
The Groome Place facility features advanced automation and environmental controls capable of processing roughly 3,000 apple bins daily, cutting orchard-to-packhouse time by 25 percent, according to Michael Caccioppoli, head of coolstores at Mr Apple. “This turnaround speed directly supports export quality, and by shortening the time from picking to cooling, we’re able to preserve internal fruit integrity,” he said.
By streamlining post-harvest handling and cutting processing times, the Groome Place facility is helping reshape New Zealand’s apple export landscape — introducing a new level of efficiency, consistency and scale to one of the country’s key agricultural sectors.
Currently, nearly three-quarters of Mr Apple’s exports are earmarked for premium varieties such as Dazzle, Posy and NZ Queen, with an eye to growing that share to 75–80 percent by 2027. The site also slashes carbon emissions by up to 20 percent compared to legacy facilities and operates with just eight staff, owing to automation and integrated systems that streamline labor and handling costs while cutting environmental impact.
From an economic standpoint, Groome Place represents a solid foundation for the Veritas Fund. The facility is projected to deliver a 6.5 percent per annum pre-tax cash return, supported by fixed 2.5 percent annual rent reviews for most of the lease term—offering investors both yield predictability and long-term income security.
The fund has set a fundraising goal of $1 billion in holdings within five years. According to Henderson, the capital raise for the Groome Place coolstore is already underway. “This is a fund with a long-term growth and diversification strategy, intended to spread investment risk across sectors and locations,” he said. “We are aiming to have $200 million in assets within 12-18 months and increase that to a billion dollars within four years after that.”
Henderson noted that investors are increasingly drawn to high-quality, income-generating assets that align with ESG principles and global trade dynamics. The coolstore showcases the kind of resilient, export-focused infrastructure the fund is targeting. The Erskine Owen Veritas Property Fund is open to wholesale investors under New Zealand’s Financial Markets Conduct Act, offering exposure to premium infrastructure assets without retail investor access.
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