Marcus Beveridge: Queen City Law Managing Director on the new Invest New Zealand agency

There's belief a new agency focused on driving up foreign investment is well overdue. 

The Government is creating Invest New Zealand to attract overseas investors into infrastructure and other key sectors. 

It aims to streamline overseas investment by providing tailored support. 

Queen City Law Managing Director Marcus Beveridge told Ryan Bridge it was what New Zealand Trade and Enterprise was always meant to do. 

He says if they do adopt an all of government approach, it could put the country back up to where it should be in terms of OECD rankings. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The gates to overseas investment are now open, declared Christopher
lux And yesterday, and its stated in the Nation's Speech.
A new agency, Invests New Zealand is being established. It
wants to drive growth be a one stop shop for
international capital. The concepts being modeled apparently off successful schemes
in Singapore and in Ireland. Marcus Beveridge is with Queen's
City Law. He's the managing director of Foreign Investment Specialist Marcus.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good morning, morning Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Do you like what you hear?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Mate, it's fantastic and it's overdue and we're even for
business on a cynical notice sort of nothing you knew
under the sun. It's always what was formerly the MZTE
Trade Ends were meant to do, which is can increase
our exporting penetration of overseas markets and encourage foreign direct
investment into New Zealand. But it's about time New Zealand

(00:49):
came up with this message and started broadcasting it.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Does it worry you that they're keeping the same ENZT
staff that have been doing the same job up until now.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm the wrong guy to talk about that, because I
think the whole government bureaucracy needs a really swift kick
up to JACKSI that's iron z Dia just they really
need They've got some plunkers in there who take forever
to make decisions. Trade ends or NZTU traditionally has had
some of the smartest guys in the room. It's a

(01:20):
government department, the smart guys want to be in. And
this weekend at the Sale GP we attended an event
there where the Minister of Immigration released the new Investor Program,
which will become effective on the tenth of March, and
that should encourage a sort of tsunami, possibly billions of

(01:40):
dollars out of primarily China coming into New Zealand because
they're dispensing with the English language test and allowing investment
back into property. So you know, the statement property market
may get a bit of a jab in the arm.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
What about infrastructure and tech? Those are the avenues we
desperately need to open up. What is standing in the way. Well,
you know when people say, oh, there's roadblocks to foreign
investment in those areas, what are they?

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well, those I think a lot of them are about
perception and they're looking at you know the state of
our credit rating, our population exchange rates.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Because if they if they dispose of their assets.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
They're in New Zealand dollars and they're converting back into
US political stability.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
You know, you look at the shutdown of oil.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Exploration, the rule of law and the stability of the
country as well as all.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
The commercial terms.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
So you know, for these sovereign funds to look at
New Zealand paths for infrastructure. You know, we have a
small population, we seem to build things slowly. These political
are these legislative changes and the regulatory framework. If you
look at Sir Donald Trump, he's up there signing off
on these edicts within seconds of taking office. You know,

(02:57):
the truth is the coalition's been in power for what
over a year now, and it does seem like a
bit of a you know, slow boat to China in
terms of releasing this sort of thing. But if they
do adopt a all of government approach to attract this investment,
you know, it could put us back up where we
should be in terms of OECD rankings, et cetera.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Marcus, thank you, Marcus Beveridge, Queen City Law is a
managing direct a foreign investment specialist. It sounds like we're
going to get some movement on at least property in
the near term, which is good news.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
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Speaker 1 (03:32):
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