Mega-rich investor Hans Albrecht arrived in New Zealand by accident but he has quickly found a home for some of his vast fortune, BusinessDesk reports.

The German founder of Carlyle Group in Europe was visiting Great Barrier Island in 2020 shortly before Aotearoa went into lockdown. After meeting Icehouse Ventures chief executive Robbie Paul and local private equity star Ross George of Direct Capital, Albrecht was introduced to other Kiwi investors such as Sir Stephen Tindall and Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck.

It wasn’t long before local start-ups caught his attention, including Geo40, a geothermal venture in Taupō that has recently started developing technology to recover sought-after lithium from underground.

All Albrecht says he’s invested more than $30m in the country, including several other start-ups and apartments in one of Auckland’s premier blocks.

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