Ngāi Tahu, the richest iwi in the country, is now worth $1.65bil following the release of their annual report today. The figure is an increase of nearly $200mil from the previous year.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu are celebrating their continued economic growth.
Spokesperson Lisa Tumahai says, "Most of our growth in the last financial year has been from fishing, tourism, some return in our honey business.”
“We've had strong returns from our shares in Ryman Healthcare. We've increased our market share in GoBus and it's been a really busy year for Ngāi Tahu tourism."
The iwi has reported a net profit of $150mil from commercial activities.
Tumahai says the return allows for a direct distribution of $61mil to tribal programs such as social housing, education and well-being grants.
"Te Rūnanga has taken a deliberate strategic approach to increase the well-being of our people because having a large balance sheet is no good if you're not looking at the social impacts on our people."
This year marks 20 years since Ngāi Tahu signed their Deed of Settlement. Since then they've turned $170mil into a billion dollar empire.
"We've continued to build on our existing ‘pou’ that we had at settlement, which is our property company, fishing company, tourism company and our capital portfolio," says Tumahai.
“We’ve continued to diversify and expand the investments but being mindful of those that make the money as a clear separation from those that spend it, so I think that’s worked really well for us.”
Next month Ngāi Tahu will launch their climate change strategy, which Tumahai says will guide the iwi’s future investments and evolution for the next 20 years.