Investing in Zespri
The information on this page is intended for New Zealand kiwifruit producers who may be eligible to hold Zespri shares. It is not financial advice or a recommendation or offer to purchase Zespri shares. You should seek independent professional advice before making any investment decision.
Who may own Zespri shares?
As a New Zealand kiwifruit grower, you may be eligible to become a Zespri shareholder.
Only producers (owners or lessees) of land in New Zealand on which kiwifruit is grown for supply to Zespri may purchase Zespri shares. It is not compulsory for producers to own shares or for non-producers to sell their shares. Share ownership rules are detailed in the Zespri Constitution.
What being a Zespri shareholder involves
- Having a say: Shareholders may vote on shareholder resolutions, including the election of both grower and independent directors.
- Dividends (if declared): Payment of dividends is not guaranteed, and the decision around if, when, and how much, is at the discretion of the Zespri Board. The current dividend pay-out policy is 70-90 percent of Zespri’s calculated distributable profit each year (this may change at any time). Dividend payments may be paid annually. This payment is a combination of the final dividend from the previous financial year and the interim dividend for the current financial year.
More growers owning shares in Zespri may benefit the industry as a whole as:
Strong grower ownership helps to ensure the Single Desk system works for all growers, helping to keep the industry united, controlled by current growers, and supported by the government.
Aligning the commercial incentives of growers means there will likely be more support for market-led opportunities which deliver value back to the industry.
For more information on how Zespri is working to improve grower ownership of Zespri, head to the Share Alignment page.
How to buy Zespri shares
You can buy Zespri shares in four different ways:
Zespri shares are traded on the Unlisted Securities Exchange (USX) platform, and shareholders must register with one of the five approved USX brokers to be able to trade on-market. You can find the list of brokers on the USX website.
The USX brokers check with Zespri that buyers are eligible ‘producers’ and confirm how many shares the buyer is entitled to purchase (the current share cap is six shares per tray of production). They then place a buy or sell order with USX, match traders, and notify Computershare to update the share register once a transaction has settled.
Brokers charge a fee, and there may be anti-money laundering requirements when you register with a broker.
An off-market transfer is a private sale which happens directly between the two eligible parties and takes place off a formal trading platform without the involvement of USX or a broker. When the off-market agreement has been made between two parties, we recommend that the buyer contacts us before any payment is made. This allows us to check the eligibility of both the buyer and the seller, confirm how many shares can be purchased, and ensure the transaction aligns with current share entitlements.
Once we’ve given confirmation, both parties must complete and sign the relevant sections of the off-market transfer form and return the original completed form either to Zespri or Computershare (our share registry office).
Loyalty as Shares allows eligible growers to invest in Zespri shares using their June loyalty payment (relating to the previous harvest season).
Once a grower has opted-in to LaS they will stay opted-in for future years until they opt-out or are no longer eligible to participate. Participation and eligibility are based on which entity qualifies for the Loyalty payment each supply year. Other eligibility criteria apply.
Dividends as Shares allows eligible shareholders to reinvest in Zespri shares using dividends paid on their existing Zespri shares. They can choose to use 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of their net dividend to purchase shares. The remaining percentage not applied (if applicable) will then be paid as a normal cash dividend payment and any part rounding that does not make up a full share is managed and carried forward by Computershare until the next dividend is paid.
Once a shareholder has opted-in to DaS, they will stay opted-in for future years until they opt-out or are no longer eligible to participate.
LaS and DaS are offered under Zespri’s Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for an offer of ordinary shares in Zespri Group Limited. This PDS can be found online at disclose-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz, under offer number OFR13848.
See the Loyalty as Shares and Dividends as Shares page for more information about these options.
How many shares am I entitled to buy?
The number of shares you can buy depends on whether you’re a current producer already supplying fruit to Zespri, or a new entrant that hasn’t started supplying fruit yet.
Current producers: If you’re a current producer, you can hold up to six shares per tray of average historical production. This is a 6:1 ratio and is known as your ‘share cap’. Average historical production is calculated using the average of the best two of the last five completed seasons. Final production figures are uploaded into our system every April and we run calculations to recalculate your share entitlement. Any shares over the 6:1 cap are required to be sold within three years of that producer becoming ‘overshared’. In this situation, the shareholder will receive a notice from us outlining the amount of shares they need to sell and confirming the date they need to be sold by.
Who else is involved? Reap is Zespri’s mobile investor relations app, giving shareholders and non-shareholders access to company updates, publications, financials, and share price information. Zespri shares trade on the Unlisted Securities Exchange (USX) via registered brokers, and Craigs Investment Partners acts as Zespri’s market maker to support liquidity. Computershare manages Zespri’s share registry, dividend payments, AGM processes, and shareholder communications.
New entrants: If you’re a new entrant with a greenfield orchard, you’re entitled to hold up to 1.5 shares per tray of ‘deemed production’, or a ratio of 1.5:1. Regional production analysis is used to calculate your deemed production. This is based on the average regional per hectare production for all varieties of kiwifruit and is published in our Annual Report. If you are a new entrant that is buying an existing orchard, you inherit production from the orchard you purchase so your entitlement is based on actual production not deemed production. View producer share entitlement calculation examples here.
Priority and Subsidiary Entitlement: If you’re wondering what entitlement you have, please contact the Zespri Investor Relations team or for more information on the priority or subsidiary holding go to the Share Information page.
Frequently asked questions
A share represents a part ownership of a company. When a company is profitable, dividends can be paid and/or the shares of the company can increase in value. Share trading is a way to trade a stake in a company with any other eligible person. Zespri shares (in most instances) also carry voting rights, where our shareholders can vote on shareholder resolutions at our Annual Meetings. A shareholder is the owner who holds a portion of the shares in a company.
A share market is a marketplace where investors buy and sell ownership stakes in listed companies. It is just like any other market where buyers and sellers come together to work out a price for something. The key difference when trading shares is that the share market is a virtual marketplace and typically all trading is done online. The share market for Zespri shares is on the Unlisted Securities Exchange (USX).
A broker is an individual or a company who handles customer orders to buy and sell shares. Their rate is often called a brokerage or commission, which is usually a certain percentage of the sale after the trade is completed. Zespri shares are traded on the Unlisted Securities Exchange (USX) platform, and shareholders must register with one of the five approved (USX) brokers to be able to trade on-market. A list of these five brokers is on the USX website.
Head to the Performance of Zespri shares page to read more about the historic returns of Zespri shares. Remember that past performance is not an indication of future performance.
Zespri did start the NZX listing process in 2022. However, our structure makes it difficult to be listed on the NZX and in particular comply with the listing rules. Zespri made the decision to remain on the USX market. We have no plans at this stage to begin the NZX listing process again.
In 2000, the New Zealand Government disestablished the Kiwifruit Marketing Board, created Zespri as a corporate structure, and transferred ownership to existing growers based on their proportional production at the time. A specific decision was made at the time not to create a co-operative structure which required on-going mandatory shareholder investment based on production. Further, as part of the KISP consultation it was decided to retain the corporate structure, but to amend the Kiwifruit Regulations and Zespri Constitution, to introduce a share cap, and remove the payment of dividends to dry shareholders after a prescribed period.
Industry consultation has shown low support for compulsory shareholding for growers.
Zespri has previously approached Sharesies to seek interest in becoming a USX registered broker, however Sharesies don’t currently operate on the USX market.
There are currently different options for growers wanting to buy shares:
- On-market via a USX registered broker; over three million shares were traded via the USX in the last year.
- Off-market; 6.8 million shares were traded in the last year between unrelated parties, and 7.7 million shares between related parties. Zespri offers a Shares Availability Board on Canopy to assist off-market traders to find each other.
- Directly via Zespri and the LaS and DaS offers; 8.3 million shares were issued in 2025.
Key resources
Support
The Zespri Shares team provides specialised support to the industry on everything shares related. If you have questions about shares or the share structure, please don't hesitate to ask. Email shares@zespri.com or call us on 07 572 6402.
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