Hamish Kennedy, the cashed-up founder of fruit sorting solution company Compac, has been making a couple of investments in his spare time.
Companies Office records show he, along with a number of other high net-worth individuals, has invested in Kiwi startup Unfiltered Media. He took a small 0.55% stake in April.
Mr Kennedy’s other investments include a 12% stake in blockchain technology company HSCP2 and a 2.3% holding in listed health technology company Orion Health, whose share price has halved in the year to May despite speculation of a trade sale.
Before the 2017 sale of Compac to Norwegian-listed Tomra, Kennedy, wife Kim, and Brian Leaning owned 75% of the company, which Kennedy founded in his basement more than 30 years ago.
According to Tomra’s 2017 annual report, the total price paid for Compac was $67.3 million with no earn-out payments as originally intended. The original owners are shareholders in SIENZ, formed when, as part of the sale, Compac’s former Spain and Uruguay distribution operations were spun out. SIENZ provides Tomra with in-market representation in certain European markets and the Latin-American market and also provides peripheral equipment to Tomra in New Zealand and other markets offshore.
Tomra’s annual report says Compac was a somewhat distressed company when acquired but has since undertaken a major change programme. It has sold 1900 machines and 6000 sorting lanes in 40 countries worldwide from inception to the end of 2017, handling apples, kiwifruit, cherries, avocados and stonefruit.
The technology
Kennedy completed a masters degree in electrical engineering after growing up on a kiwifruit orchard. He saw the rapidly expanding kiwifruit market lacked a fruit sorting machine that would be faster and more accurate than conventional fruit grading machines available at the time.
So he built one in the basement of his student flat, which led to him building a global business from Auckland sorting a range of fruit.
Named 2015 EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the technology category, Mr Kennedy said it all started because he “didn’t want to get a regular job.” Under his leadership Compac had a strong focus on research and development and became a global market leader for its Spectrim technology.
His property interests include a house in Auckland’s Mt Eden and a neighbouring property that are valued at about $6 million combined. He also co-owner of a $1.46m farm at Waipapa in the Far North and Kennedy Orchards, of which he is a co-owner, owns a Kerikeri orchard.