The South Island Office is an equity partnership with a focus on long-term investment opportunities. We partner and co-invest in a range of investment opportunities on a case by case basis. No particular sectors are favoured, rather our focus is in recognising great business opportunities that can benefit from our particular and collective skill sets.

Overview

The South Island Office (SIO) is a NZ based investment group made up of partners, James Stringer, Tom Elworthy and Rob Farrell.

We search out, structure and acquire investment opportunities within Australasia. We co-invest and partner in a wide range of sectors and structures.

About Us

Our mission is to act as long-term business partners and invest in best-of- class, sustainable and profitable investment opportunities within New Zealand and Australia.

We have a ‘fundamentals first’ philosophy, placing good business practices at the forefront of all decision making criteria.

We believe in keeping it simple. If the underlying business is not easily understood by the partners we do not invest or promote.

We are South Island based who know our region well. We are independent and wholesale investors ourselves and we act as true partners within our range of investments and operating business partners.

The South Island Office was founded in 2019 as an evolution from sister company Box 112 Limited. Box 112 has been operating in the post-earthquake Canterbury environment as a private equity partnership putting together, creating and co-investing in nearly $200 million of investment. These investments span property, agriculture and commercial going concerns.

In 2019,  its founders partnered with James Stringer and Tom Elworthy to establish The South Island Office and combine the intellectual property of Box 112 with a broader reach in experience and expertise.

Te Waipounamu 

The South Island, officially named Te Waipounamu (meaning literally Water and Greenstone), is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand.

The South Island is defined by the magnificent Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand’s highest peak, Aoraki Mount Cook and the high Kaikoura Ranges lying to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the food basket of the country, the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines and stunning scenery such as Fiordland, Haast, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.

The main centres are Nelson, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin. The economy relies on manufacturing, agriculture, horticulture, fishing, tourism, and general services.

As it is 32 percent larger than the North Island, the South Island is nicknamed the “mainland” of New Zealand. It is home to 23 percent of New Zealand’s 4.9 million inhabitants.