Episode 1 of the Curious Kiwi Capitalist Podcast Show

4th August 2019My guest for this show is Sir Eion Edgar KNZM. Sir Eion recently retired as Chairman of Forsyth Barr, a firm he was with for almost 50 years with the last 20 as Chairman. There are few people who know more about the New Zealand public capital markets.

In this show we cover the evolution of the public capital markets including:

* the history of the various stock exchanges and their change in structure* the changes in investor mix over time i.e. retail, managed funds and institutional* the changes in diversification strategy* comparative changes in IPOs over the decades* “Muldoon’s mistake”, hint: a super mistake* dramatic technological change* the lingering damage of 1987 crash on our markets* whether there is a the funding gap for early stage and mid-market businesses* the rise of private equity* the problems of being listing on the stock market* three things to improve the capital markets

Show Notes

About Sir Eion

Sir Eion is well known for his time at Forsyth Barr but he is also a skilled private markets investor and philanthropist.

He famously invested in a potato business called Mr Chips which he sold for a handsome profit (Sir Eion and family are on the NBR Rich List) in 2008. Currently he is chairing Hawaiki Submarine Cable as well as investing through his family business the Sinclair Investment Group.

But most in Otago (an area I lived in for many years) know him for his philanthropy. He is the chair of the NZ Dementia Prevention Trust, patron of Diabetes NZ, NZ Football Foundation, NZ Sports Hall of Fame, Queenstown Trails Trust and ShelterBox NZ. He was the driving force behind the building of the Dunedin Indoor stadium and so many other local charitable causes.

But I know him best for his service to NZ Snow Sports. Not only does he support snow sports athletes through his foundation but he essentially bought a version of the winter olympics (he is a past NZOC President) to New Zealand through the Winter Games NZ. It’s here where I saw him in action, the diplomat, the businessman, athlete’s biggest fan and sports fanatic—if there is ever a role model for aspiring business people it is Sir Eion.

Sir Eion recently retired as Chairman of Forsyth Barr. He is formerly Chancellor of the University of Otago and Chairman of the New Zealand Stock Exchange. He was also formerly a Director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Accident Compensation Commission, Mt Cook Alpine Salmon, and Vero Insurance New Zealand Limited.

Links

* Sir Eion Edgar and Forysth Barr* Business Profile on NBR* Otago University Profile* Sir Eion and Philanthropy* NZ Public Capital Markets with Sir Eion Edgar show notes

Transcript: Public Capital Market Interview with Sir Eion Edgar

Bruce: Thank you, Sir Eion for for doing this interview this episode about the public capital markets much appreciated. I’m sitting in your house here in sunny Queenstown looking across Lake Wakatipu. And I must say this is a fantastic view in a fantastic location.Sir Eion: Not hard to enjoy life when you’ve got this outlook.