Christopher Swasbrook

Christopher Swasbrook founded Elevation Capital in 2007 following a distinguished career in New Zealand capital markets, including as Partner and Co-Head of Institutional Equities at Goldman Sachs JBWere (NZ).

Christopher Swasbrook is Managing Director of Elevation Capital Management Limited (FSP# 1011848), MA Asset Management (New Zealand) Limited (FSP# 1011255). He is also Chair of the Auckland Future Fund and Executive Chair of McCashin's Brewery.

Previously, he was Director of Elevation Capital Funds Management Limited (now The Curve Investments Limited FSP# 1007386), Chair of NZX-listed Allied Farmers, Chair of NZX-listed Bethunes Investments (formerly Mowbray Collectables, now MOVe Logistics), an Independent Director and Lead Director of the Audit & Risk Committee of NZX-listed Rakon Limited, Director (and Co-Founder) of NZX-listed New Zealand Rural Land Company, Commercial Director and Member of the Audit & Risk Committee of NZX-listed Satara Co-Operative Group, Chairman of unlisted investment company Bethunes Investments, Director and Lead Director of the Audit & Risk Committee of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, and a Director of SwimTastic, a large-scale learn-to-swim operator in New Zealand.

Early in his career in financial markets, Mr Swasbrook became a foundation broker of the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) after being a full member of the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE). He became Partner and Co-Head of Institutional Equities at Goldman Sachs JBWere (NZ) in 2003.

Mr Swasbrook has had many financial market highlights across his career, including the largest NZX Initial Public Offering (IPO) for a company with no operating assets at the time of the offering - the New Zealand Rural Land Company, which raised $75.0 million in December 2020. In 2017, he was a key player in the largest reverse listing transaction in the NZX's history, when NZX-listed Bethunes Investments (formerly Mowbray Collectables) acquired Transport Investments and TIL Logistics (now MOVe Logistics) in a $200 million deal. He has also been involved in several activist-investor and investment situations in New Zealand and Australia throughout his career. He is widely consulted and offers advice in such situations today. While his focus across public and private markets remains broad, he is a specialist in advising and forming investment vehicles (both listed and unlisted) to capitalise on specific investment opportunities.

He has been a Board Member of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) since 2019 and has also served as a Member of the NZX Listing Subcommittee (2008-2023) and the New Zealand Markets Disciplinary Tribunal (2013-2023). Since graduating from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics) in 1996, he has undertaken Executive Education courses at Columbia University (New York), New York University (NYU), the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Harvard Kennedy School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, he has long supported business and arts communities. He is the Chair of The Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa and the Chair of The Helen Clark Foundation, a nonpartisan public and economic policy research institute. He was previously the Chair and an inaugural member of the Auckland Art Gallery Advisory Committee from 2019 to 2026 and a Director & Trustee of Te Tuhi Contemporary Arts Trust from 2012 to 2014.