ABOUT US
Learn about Fernwater Capital
Based in Hamilton, New Zealand, Fernwater Capital Ltd (FCL) is an Investment Company which specializes in providing Investment Opportunities and Investment Advice to Wholesale Investors. FCL specializes in seeking out unlisted companies that are in “Expansion Phase” and require additional capital and management support to take them to the next level.
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What is an “Expansion Phase” Company? Typically these are companies that are not “Start Ups” – they are companies which ae well established, have created a product or a service, have staff, operating systems, customers and distribution chains.
But having developed a critical mass, they need to go to a new level in order to expand further and need an injection of equity capital to take them to that new level. That capital can be potentially forthcoming from a variety of sources, in particular from the so called “angel investor” market.
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What/who are Angel Investors? Specialist investment companies like Fernwater Capital Limited, Private Equity Groups, Educational Investment Trusts and Charitable Trusts can all make up the diverse range of Groups that are collectively known as “Angel Investors.”
This diverse group of potential investors will typically trawl through those expansion phase companies seeking opportunities that sit well with their own investment philosophy and on finding what they regard as suitable opportunities will then discuss terms with the principals of those companies and provided that suitable terms can be reached, will then invest.
Principals of Fernwater Capital Ltd
John Galvin
John has a long history of successful investment management and advice. Forming his own financial services company in 1987, JGFP Ltd, focusing on a client base of, mainly, high net worth individuals, John steered this business through the reconfiguration of the NZ economy late ‘80’s to mid 90’s, the ups and downs of global markets, constantly providing sound and successful advice to a growing number of clients. A disciple of the Warren Buffet approach to Investment selection and management, Johns clients saw their portfolios consistently outperform standard industry benchmarks. In 2013, John took a step back from day to day management of JGFP to focus on the Wholesale Investor market and Fernwater Capital Ltd, a vehicle for wholesale investors
Grant Wood
Graduating from Waikato University with a Bachelor of Commerce (Business) in 1993. Grant joined JFGP Ltd as an associate adviser in 1996 and over the next 17 years, worked closely with John Galvin, building up his own group of clients. In 2013, Grant stepped up to lead the JGFP business with John stepping aside, but became a Director and Shareholder of Fernwater Capital Ltd at the same time. Renaming the JGFP business to Future Vision Ltd, Grant has continued to grow this retail investor client business with outstanding results for its investor clients, as well as working alongside John with Fernwater Capital and its clients
Examples
Natural Pet Food Group Ltd
$260,000 invested by the Fernwater Group in 2013, grew into $2,900,000 when the company was sold to International interests in 2021
Wherescape
An investment of just under $400,000 in the data storage company, Wherescape, grew to over $1m when this company was sold in a Trade sale. All sales proceeds were returned to the Fernwater shareholders
Layby
An original investment of just $82,000 in the consumer finance group Layby, saw over $100,000 returned to shareholders for just 50% of their shares when Layby listed on the ASX late 2020 – the value of the remaining 50% are currently over $300,000