Xero co-founder Hamish Edwards says he’s quietly sold off 800,000 shares in the accounting software company over the past year and wants to sell more if the price is right.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love Xero, but it’s just an asset I hold now,” he tells NBR.
Mr Edwards owned 3.2 million shares, or a 2.38% stake, according to Xero's 2017 annual report. He says he now has “around 2.4 million” shares, a stake which was worth $A110 million in July.
However, he says his shareholding is now part of an HSBC nominee encompassing other shareholders, so NBR cannot independently verify his remaining holding.
Mr Edwards says the shares were sold incrementally over the past year, at times when the share was trading well, and reinvested into companies like Apple and Google and “various bonds.”
He says he will continue to sell off his remaining shares if they trade well this year.
Mr Edwards says the company’s move to a solely ASX listing last year was a “brilliant” move by then-chief executive Rod Drury.
In November, the accounting software company announced its delisting from the NZX, to focus on the ASX.
“It was a really good result and probably about time we did it,” says Mr Edwards, who previously sold $35 million worth of his Xero shares in 2012.
Since delisting from the NZX, Xero has gone from a $A30 stock to more than $A46 by late July.
Mr Edwards, a self-described “startup guy,” has invested in technology companies Rightway, ConnectWorks, Koordinates and Atomic, a product and web design software company where he says most of his focus is on.
The 44-year-old former accountant’s most recent investment was Auckland-based Koordinates, which runs a free online mapping and geospatial data platform. Mr Edwards and his wife Tineke invested in mid-2016 for a 3% stake.
Mr Edwards also has a 16.5% stake in Martinborough-based accounting firm RightWay, where he is a former chairman, having created the business along with Wairarapa-based accountants Greg Sheehan, David Shaw and Edwin Read.
He also chairs and holds an 11% shareholding in ConnectWorks, a Xero ‘add-on partner,’ with services used by the likes of Deloitte.
After completing a BCom in accounting and marketing at Otago University, Mr Edwards spent five years as a soldier in the NZ Army.
He then joined Openside Accounting, a practice that specialised in high-growth companies, sparking his meeting with co-founder-to-be Mr Drury.
Mr Edwards enjoys golf and skiing and is involved in the New Zealand men’s ski team. He’s also involved in several clubs and NGOs in Queenstown.