Key, Chow families in housing venture
Former prime minister Sir John Key and his son, Max Key, have gone into business with the Chow brothers to raise $100 million for housing development.
The Key family property development company, MTK Capital, announced yesterday it had formed a partnership with the Chow brothers’ Stonewood Group.
Stonewood owns home builder Stonewood Homes, infrastructure servicing business RCR and $500m of assets focused on hotels and commercial properties.
The joint venture with the Keys would be known as Stonewood Key Capital and would focus on raising capital from wholesale investors, with a goal of reaching $100m within 18 months.
Its goal was to fund the development of up to 500 new homes each year around the country, and $20m had already been pledged. That was earmarked for development projects in a variety of locations including Auckland’s St Heliers, Glen Innes and Wai o Taiki Bay.
Stonewood Group director John Chow said a lack of land continued to be central to the housing crisis and the new business was about raising funds to buy more land. It would help to keep pace with the demand for new homes nationwide and would also provide an investment opportunity for those interested in residential real estate, he said.
The new homes would be on top of the 500 homes the company already built each year, he said.
Chow and his brother, Michael Chow, were in the adult entertainment industry for 20 years before getting into property in 2016, when they bought the assets of Stonewood Homes after it went into receivership.
The receivership of Stonewood Homes, which was considered the country’s third-largest house builder, affected more than 200 homeowners, but all the builds were ultimately completed.
In November 2020, the brothers launched Stonewood Capital to provide an alternative to bank funding for the group’s developments by franchisees and licensees.
John Key said he had known the Chow family for a long time and respected their business acumen and work ethic.
He had always had a passion for real estate investment and viewed it as a sound asset class in a growing country that had longterm migration needs, he said.
Stonewood Key Capital’s directors would be MTK Capital chief executive Max Key and Stonewood Group director Steven Zhu, while John Key and John Chow would invest in projects and act as advisers to the business.