Elementary, my dear Watson

Phil Newland (left) and Eric Watson share big plans for the Cullen portfolio.

By DITA DE BONI

An American-educated New Zealander who turns 33 today has been put in charge of entrepreneur Eric Watson's $1 billion-a-year private investment vehicle.

The latest of Mr Watson's engaging, yet guarded, lieutenants is Phil Newland, who has just taken the top job at the Cullen Investments offices in Kitchener St, inner-city Auckland.

Mr Newland will lead an executive team including Stefan Preston, the former head of Pacific Retail Group, and Maurice Kidd, finance executive director, in overseeing the entire Cullen portfolio.

He has reached his position in the midst of a reshuffle of Mr Watson's business interests which collectively generate more than $1 billion in revenue each year.

The arts-lover and travel enthusiast joined Cullen in May last year, after being poached from a top job in real estate finance for a Manhattan development and investment company, which he took after graduating with a master's degree in science from New York University.

Mr Newland misses the hubbub of the North American cultural scene, saying New York and Auckland are "diametrically opposite places, commercially and culturally".

But he says the benefit of doing business in New Zealand is that one can find here a "very small network which can work in your favour if you leverage it effectively".

"There are still wonderful investment opportunities in New Zealand but, unfortunately, often by default with the absence of capital."

The fact that Cullen will be looking to more overseas opportunities does not mean it will be reducing the amount of local investment, he says.

Ask Mr Newland about the reshuffles within Cullen, whereby Mr Watson's more liquid investments will be bundled into new merger and acquisition subsidiary Cullen Capital, and out comes a stream of management-speak.

"The aim is to evolve Cullen from its current fantastic platform and take it to its next level of development with a very strong focus on business disciplines - applying core business strategies and adding value at every level."

And that means ... "putting a lot of energy into the businesses we invest in with a strong emphasis on measuring performances".

Mr Newland points to the Watson-backed New Zealand Warriors as a "microcosm of exactly what we want our businesses to stand for - making the best of available resources, being disciplined and passionate, extraordinarily committed to a great performance".