Māpua Wealth is pleased to announce that John Hepburn has become a partner in the firm.
John joined Māpua in October 2025 from the NZ Superannuation Fund, where he was a Portfolio Manager responsible for global private equity investments. In his first year with us he has led the further build-out of Māpua's private equity strategy. His decision to take an ownership stake reflects his commitment to the firm and to the clients we serve. He brings more than 15 years of investment experience from Auckland and London across private equity, co-investments, multi-manager research and funds management.At the NZ Superannuation Fund, John was a Portfolio Manager in the external investments and partnerships team. He managed a global portfolio of private equity fund and co-investment positions, and was responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing private equity opportunities worldwide. Before that, John was a senior investment consultant at Mercer in New Zealand. In London he worked at Stamford Associates and FirstEnergy Capital. This mix of institutional investing and consulting gives him an unusual perspective: he has sat on both sides of the table, as an allocator committing capital and as an adviser helping investment committees make decisions.Since joining, John has been central to developing further Māpua's private equity strategy. He has combined his own experience with the deep private markets background across our team. For our clients, the programme offers:
access to global private equity managers that can be hard for New Zealand investors to reach on their own
manager selection and due diligence informed by institutional experience
portfolio construction that sizes private equity alongside each client's liquidity needs and wider portfolio
As a New Zealand firm, we also want to find the best private equity opportunities at home. John has also recently completed a review of the domestic private equity market for a large foundation. That work is deepening our understanding of local managers and how they can sit alongside global allocations in New Zealand portfolios.