Peninsula Credit Quarterly Update - June 2026

Peninsula Credit, a direct lending New Zealand specialist and Auckland based private credit fund manager, has grown combined funds under management across its two vehicles to more than NZ$125 million, according to the firm's June 2026 quarterly reporting. Around 64% of that capital is now committed to direct loans, with the balance held in cash or allocated to loans due to settle in the coming weeks.

The milestone reflects the steady maturing of a business built by a team of former ANZ Bank corporate lenders, with more than 100 years of combined New Zealand business lending experience between them. Peninsula Credit runs two complementary funds. Peninsula Credit Fund I LP is a closed end fund, established in September 2023 and closed to new commitments since 30 June 2025, with NZ$46.25 million in committed capital. Peninsula Credit Fund II LP is an open ended New Zealand limited partnership, established in July 2025 and still open to new commitments from wholesale investors, including applicants under the Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa Growth Category, with NZ$80.85 million in committed capital.

Both funds share the same mandate: senior secured lending to established, profitable New Zealand businesses, generally in the NZ$2 million to NZ$20 million mid-market range, with no exposure to property development, start-ups or venture capital. At quarter end, Fund I had committed 78% of its capital to portfolio loans, and Fund II had committed 57%, once loans allocated for imminent funding are counted alongside those already drawn.

The portfolio's diversification is deepening in step with its growth. Across the two funds, Peninsula Credit's combined loan book now spans eight loans across six sectors: horticulture, viticulture, renewable energy, infrastructure services, ecommerce and facilities services. Borrowers range from an orchard exporting apples to Asian and European markets, to a Marlborough vineyard business, a solar energy retailer supplying nearly 300 New Zealand dairy farms, a cross border ecommerce platform, and providers of essential hospital waste management and commercial laundry services.

“This portfolio is deliberately built for resilience. Horticulture, viticulture, renewable energy, infrastructure services, ecommerce and facilities services each behave differently through an economic cycle, and that spread is exactly what protects investor capital while still delivering strong income,” said Andrew Pryde, Managing Director at Peninsula Credit.

The June quarter itself was not without its challenges for New Zealand's mid-market economy. Strong commodity prices and a weaker New Zealand dollar supported a genuine, if uneven, recovery, but renewed conflict in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher during the quarter, lifting fuel and transport costs and pushing annual inflation towards 4%. The Reserve Bank responded in July by lifting the Official Cash Rate by 0.25% to 2.50%, still targeting a return to its 2.00% midpoint over the medium term. Most commentary expects inflationary pressure to ease into the September quarter as oil prices soften and the domestic recovery broadens, supported by an election year Budget that has begun restoring fiscal discipline.

“Our borrowers felt the same cost pressures as every other New Zealand business this quarter. What gives us comfort is that we lend against contracted, non-discretionary revenue, so the businesses in our portfolio have continued to perform even as the wider economy absorbed a genuine shock,” Pryde said.

Against that backdrop, Peninsula Credit closed three new loans during the quarter, committing a combined NZ$22.4 million of capital, with funding due for drawdown in July. All portfolio loans, the firm confirmed, remain fully compliant with their financial and reporting covenants, and all accrued interest income has been received in full with no exceptions.

Deployed capital into direct loans reflects margins above target returns, benefiting investors as the funds become fully constructed.  Investors continue to be satisfied with this meaningful premium running through senior secured loans to the real New Zealand economy.  Quarterly distributions will be completed by 31 July 2026.

The pipeline heading into the September quarter is substantial. Three indicative term sheets have been issued to prospective borrowers, together worth NZ$40 million, with settlement expected before the close of the September quarter should due diligence support deployment. This would see Fund I reach full deployment.

“The  pipeline will take the two funds a long way toward full deployment by the end of September. This says as much about the depth of demand for mid-market lending in New Zealand as it does about our own growth,” said Andrew Pryde, Managing Director at Peninsula Credit.

For a market still young by global standards, the trajectory is instructive. New Zealand's trading banks have tightened lending criteria in the wake of the Reserve Bank's capital adequacy reforms, leaving well run, profitable mid-market businesses looking for capital that moves at the pace of the business rather than the pace of a bank's credit committee. Peninsula Credit's growth across its two funds, and the diversification of its portfolio across New Zealand's productive economy, suggests New Zealand's private credit market is finding real and durable demand on both sides of the transaction.

For investors: put your capital to work in the real New Zealand economy

Peninsula Credit Fund II LP is open to new wholesale investor commitments, offering quarterly cash income from a diversified portfolio of senior secured loans to established New Zealand businesses. The fund is approved as an Acceptable Managed Fund under the Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa Growth Category, and every loan in the portfolio carries Peninsula Credit management's own co invested capital alongside investor capital, an alignment of interest that is structurally embedded rather than promised. To discuss an investment, including an AIP visa qualifying commitment, contact Andrew Pryde, Managing Director, at andrew@peninsulacredit.co.nz.

For borrowers: growth capital built around your business

Peninsula Credit provides senior secured term loans of NZ$2 million to NZ$20 million to established, profitable New Zealand businesses seeking capital for growth, acquisition or refinancing. Every facility is bespoke, structured around where a business is going rather than a standardised bank scorecard, with the flexibility and speed of execution that trading banks increasingly cannot match. To discuss a facility for your business, contact Matt Kendrick, Investment Director, at matt@peninsulacredit.co.nz.

Peninsula Credit Fund II LP is open to wholesale investors as defined under New Zealand's Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, including applicants under the Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa Growth Category. This article does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax or immigration advice. Prospective investors and borrowers should seek independent professional advice. Further information is available at peninsulacredit.co.nz.