Chris Wills

Chris Wills is a Partner at Direct Capital, one of New Zealand's longest-established and largest private company investors (founded 1994, with more than NZ$2.2 billion raised across seven funds over 30 years). He joined the firm in 2013, and his role covers sourcing, evaluating and executing investment opportunities and supporting existing portfolio companies through their growth. Firm listings have described him as an Investment Director; the current Direct Capital team page lists him as a Partner.

Before Direct Capital, Chris spent about three years in the M&A Tax team at KPMG, where he worked on transaction structuring. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics) and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Auckland. (Note: at least one secondary source instead lists prior experience in corporate finance at Deloitte; his KPMG/M&A background is the more consistently reported version.)

As a deal principal, Chris sits on the boards of several Direct Capital portfolio companies — he is a director of AS Colour (a New Zealand-founded global apparel/blanks brand) and Active Refrigeration (commercial and industrial refrigeration), and a board observer at Qestral Corporation. He also serves on the Council (board) of New Zealand Private Capital, the industry association representing the country's private equity and venture capital sector, reflecting his standing within the local PE community.

It is worth flagging that the original stub classified Chris as an "angel investor" making "seed round" investments. That does not match the verified record: Direct Capital is a growth private equity manager writing multi-tens-of-millions equity cheques into established, revenue-generating companies, not an angel/seed investor.

• Invests through Direct Capital's institutional PE funds — the most recent, Direct Capital VII, closed at NZ$525m (fundraising completed December 2024; investment period from 1 April 2025). The prior fund (Direct Capital VI) was $425m.
• Targets established, profitable mid-market private companies in New Zealand and Australia rather than early-stage startups.
• Firm philosophy: "investing in growth, creating permanent value" — becoming "partners with owners and management running good companies," backing situations that "create growth, strong dividend flows, and a step change in the business that will lead to a quantum change in value."
• Provides growth/expansion capital, funding for trans-Tasman expansion, and solutions for ownership changes and succession — typically taking minority through to majority stakes with active board involvement.
• Equity cheque size generally in the ~$20m–$80m+ range, into companies with roughly $50m–$350m+ revenue; sector-agnostic with a preference for quality management teams and durable business models.