The NZ$27.1 billion (US$20.8 billion) New Zealand Superannuation Fund invested US$60 million in Chicago-based LanzaTech, a private gas fermentation technology company.
Catherine Etheredge, a spokeswoman for Auckland-based New Zealand Superannuation, said in a telephone interview the investment gives NZ Super a 13.5% stake in the firm, which was founded in New Zealand in 2005, on a fully diluted basis.
The “expansion capital” investment falls within New Zealand Super's private equity allocation, which came to 4% of its portfolio as of Oct. 31. Roughly one percentage point of that private equity total is invested in expansion capital, said a news release from NZ Super Tuesday.
Nigel Gormly, the superannuation fund's head of international direct investment, said in the news release the allocation to LanzaTech's “waste-to-energy” project is in line with New Zealand Super's active efforts to diversify into alternative and non-conventional energy.
