ABOUT

The Firm

Elevation Capital Management Limited is a Capital Markets Specialist based in Auckland, New Zealand, founded in 2007.

The firm is a Registered Financial Service Provider (FSP# 1011848). For nearly two decades, Elevation Capital has managed capital on behalf of individual, wholesale, and institutional investors across global equity markets, with a consistent and demonstrable investment track record.

What We Do

Elevation Capital today operates across two core areas:

Wholesale Investment Management* — Bespoke portfolio management for wholesale and institutional investors seeking a tailored investment mandate. Including active management of global equity portfolios, underpinned by independent research and conviction-led decision making. The Independent Custodian and Global Sub-Custodian for all clients are Public Trust and BNP Paribas respectively. (*Available exclusively to investors who qualify as wholesale investors as defined in Schedule 1 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMCA) 2013.)

Special Situations & Capital Raising — Since inception, the Firm has participated in (and advised on) special situation investments, including activist positions, reverse listings, IPOs, and private market opportunities. The firm specialises in identifying and structuring investment vehicles around specific, asymmetric opportunities. Several examples are detailed below:

  • In December 2017, Elevation Capital (and Chris Swasbrook) led the reverse listing of Transport Investments Limited via NZX-listed Bethunes Investments Limited (formerly Mowbray Collectables) - transaction value $NZ$ 200mln. (Still the largest reverse listing in the NZX’s history as at 2026.)

  • In August 2018, Elevation Capital (and Chris Swasbrook) led unlisted Bethunes Investments (www.bethunesinvestments.com) to acquire an intial 33% shareholding (increased to 45% in August 2019) in one of New Zealand’s most successful learn-to-swim operators, SwimTastic Limited.

  • In December 2020, Elevation Capital (and Chris Swasbrook) was a key participant in the NZ$ 75.00m IPO of the New Zealand Rural Land Company (www.nzrlc.com) on the NZX.

  • In December 2024, Elevation Capital (and Chris Swasbrook) led the exit of Bethunes Investments from SwimTastic Limited.

Investment Philosophy

Independent Thinking - Disciplined Investing

Independent Thinking: Is essential to long-term investment success. We are often contrarian and do not pay attention to index compositions when making investment decisions. We believe that when you’re several thousand miles away from Wall Street in a different nation, it’s easier to be independent and buy the things that other people are selling, and sell the things that other people are buying.

Disciplined Investing: The market presents opportunities every day, but disciplined investing is as much about the opportunities you do not take. We also believe that cash is sometimes the most attractive investment.

Christopher Swasbrook — Founder & Managing Director

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 a Director of Elevation Capital Management Limited (FSP# 1011848), MA Asset Management (New Zealand) Limited (FSP# 1011255) and an Independent Director of NZX-listed Rakon Limited (currently, under takeover). 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), Director (and Co-Founder) of NZX-listed New Zealand Rural Land Company, Director of NZX-listed Satara Co-Operative Group, Chairman of unlisted investment company Bethunes Investments, Director of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, and 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 MOVeLogistics) in a $200 million transaction. He has also been involved in several activist investor/investment situations in New Zealand and Australia over 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 a Member of 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.

Sam Thackery — Executive Director

Sam Thackery, an Executive Director of Elevation Capital Management Limited (FSP# 1011848) and an Executive Director of MA Asset Management (New Zealand) Limited (FSP# 1011255), is working alongside Christopher Swasbrook on compliance, fund administration, and systems across both entities. He is also Founder and Director of Computable Limited, a software development, automation, and IT consultancy serving The Helen Clark Foundation and, formerly, McCashin's Brewery; through Computable, he has developed an AI-enabled lending triage platform, a portfolio stress-testing framework, and regulatory reporting tools for a New Zealand wholesale private credit fund manager. Sam is also a Director of Art Management Inc. Limited, an app developer for the collectables market.

Sam was formerly Executive Director, Compliance Officer, Fund Administration Manager, and Systems Manager of Elevation Capital Funds Management Limited (now The Curve Investments Limited FSP# 1007386), the MIS-licensed Manager of the Elevation Capital Global Shares Fund — a retail Managed Investment Scheme under the FMCA. He joined Elevation Capital Management Limited (FSP# 9601) as an Analyst in September 2023 and was promoted to Analyst and Fund Administrator in January 2024. In April 2025, he contributed to the transfer of the MIS licence from ECML into ECFML and the sale of 76% of ECFML to outside investors — including Black Bull Markets founders Michael Walker and Selwyn Loekman and Delta Insurance founder Ian Pollard — and was appointed Executive Director of ECFML. He subsequently contributed to the sale of ECFML to The Curve Investments, completed in May 2026. During his tenure, he developed the firm's investor portal and integrated Cloudcheck biometric AML/KYC at both onboarding and redemption.

Prior to funds management, Sam spent over six years at ASB Bank in retail banking and consumer lending roles, and earlier built GlassMap, a commercial cutting-optimisation tool, which was incorporated as GlassMap Limited in 2017. 

He holds a First-Class Diploma in Business Studies from Massey University (A+, 2024) and two First-Class Certificates in Financial Advice (Level 5).  Born in Wellington and raised in Palmerston North, he began programming in AppleScript at the age of eight. Outside of work, he plays chess, debates, and flies light aircraft.